TY  - JOUR
JF  - Acarologia
T1  - Ticks in the city : assessing risk exposure to Borrelia spirochetes in urban green spaces in a context of urban greening
VL  - 66
IS  - Suppl
SP  - 175
EP  - 175
PY  - 2026
SN  - 0044-586X
SN  - 2107-7207
PB  - Les Amis d'Acarologia
AU  - Magalie, René-Martellet
AU  - Isabelle, Lebert
AU  - Paul-Arthur, Danjou
AU  - Maxime, Rates
AU  - Julien, Pradel
AU  - Sébastien, Masséglia
AU  - Séverine, Barry
AU  - Valérie, Poux
AU  - Séverine, Bord
AU  - Aminah, Keliet
AU  - David, Chen
AU  - Théo, Tricou
AU  - Xavier, Bailly
AU  - Nathalie, Charbonnel
UR  - https://doi.org/10.24349/otsp-ufdq
DO  - 10.24349/otsp-ufdq
DA  - 2026-07-20
ET  - 2026-07-20
KW  - Borrelia burgdorferi sl
KW  - Ixodes ricinus
KW  - Urban parks
KW  - Rodents
KW  - Lyme disease
AB  - Lyme disease is a major public health issue in Europe and in France. The bacteria responsible for the disease belong to Borrelia burgdorferi sl complex and are transmitted by hard ticks of the genus Ixodes, in particular Ixodes ricinus in western Europe. From 2019 to 2024, a tick surveillance was implemented in public parks and urban and periurban green spaces of Lyon city in order to assess the risk of human exposure to ticks and Borrelia burgdorferi sl (Bbsl) bacteria and to collect data for the development of predictive risk models in a context of urban greening. Twelve wooded areas and three large public parks were monitored for the presence of ticks using the dragging method. Rodent samples from the peri-urban park and one urban park were also analyzed as part of the BioRodDis Project to evaluate their role as reservoir of bacteria. A total of 1,505 ticks, including 1,488 Ixodes ricinus, were collected. Among them, 1267 (85%) were analyzed by qPCR for Bbsl detection and 219 (17%) were positive. A selection of positive sample was submitted to sequencing of the rplB gene in order to determine the infecting Borrelia species. The surveillance confirmed the presence of Bbsl infected ticks in most peri-urban green spaces. Spatial analysis showed a decreasing gradient in tick abundance from rural to urban areas. In the peri-urban park, 16.1% Ixodes ricinus ticks and 12.6% rodents were infected with Bbsl. In the urban park, only 9 ticks were collected and two were positive for Bbsl, while all 295 rodents tested were negative. Borrelia afzelli was the only species found in ticks and rodents in the peri-urban park, whereas a greater diversity of Borrelia species was detected in the wooded areas explored. Identification of key factors that could explain Bbsl infected ticks abundance in urbanized areas will allow improvement of predictive models to support local authorities in their urban development projects.
ER -