L Hannah Gould, Emily Colby, Andreas Pilz, Gordon Brestrich, Kate Halsby, Patrick H Kelly, Jennifer C Moisi, James H Stark
{"title":"Lyme borreliosis awareness and risk perception: a survey in 20 European countries.","authors":"L Hannah Gould, Emily Colby, Andreas Pilz, Gordon Brestrich, Kate Halsby, Patrick H Kelly, Jennifer C Moisi, James H Stark","doi":"10.1017/S0950268825000068","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>An estimated 129000 cases of Lyme borreliosis (LB) are reported annually in Europe. In 2022, we conducted a representative web-based survey of 28034 persons aged 18-65 years old in 20 European countries to describe tick and LB risk exposures and perceptions. Nearly all respondents (95.0%) were aware of ticks (range, 90.4% in the UK to 98.8% in Estonia). Among those aware of ticks, most (85.1%) were also aware of LB (range, 70.3% in Switzerland to 97.0% in Lithuania). Overall, 8.3% of respondents reported a past LB diagnosis (range, 3.0% in Romania to 13.8% in Sweden). Respondents spent a weekly median of 7 (interquartile range [IQR] 3-14) hours in green spaces at home and 9 (IQR 4-16) hours away from home during April-November. The most common tick prevention measures always or often used were checking for ticks (44.8%) and wearing protective clothing (40.2%). This large multicountry survey provided needed data that can be used to design targeted LB prevention programmes in Europe.</p>","PeriodicalId":11721,"journal":{"name":"Epidemiology and Infection","volume":" ","pages":"e29"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11869079/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Epidemiology and Infection","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268825000068","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
An estimated 129000 cases of Lyme borreliosis (LB) are reported annually in Europe. In 2022, we conducted a representative web-based survey of 28034 persons aged 18-65 years old in 20 European countries to describe tick and LB risk exposures and perceptions. Nearly all respondents (95.0%) were aware of ticks (range, 90.4% in the UK to 98.8% in Estonia). Among those aware of ticks, most (85.1%) were also aware of LB (range, 70.3% in Switzerland to 97.0% in Lithuania). Overall, 8.3% of respondents reported a past LB diagnosis (range, 3.0% in Romania to 13.8% in Sweden). Respondents spent a weekly median of 7 (interquartile range [IQR] 3-14) hours in green spaces at home and 9 (IQR 4-16) hours away from home during April-November. The most common tick prevention measures always or often used were checking for ticks (44.8%) and wearing protective clothing (40.2%). This large multicountry survey provided needed data that can be used to design targeted LB prevention programmes in Europe.
期刊介绍:
Epidemiology & Infection publishes original reports and reviews on all aspects of infection in humans and animals. Particular emphasis is given to the epidemiology, prevention and control of infectious diseases. The scope covers the zoonoses, outbreaks, food hygiene, vaccine studies, statistics and the clinical, social and public-health aspects of infectious disease, as well as some tropical infections. It has become the key international periodical in which to find the latest reports on recently discovered infections and new technology. For those concerned with policy and planning for the control of infections, the papers on mathematical modelling of epidemics caused by historical, current and emergent infections are of particular value.