Cent Eur J Public Health 2021, 29(3):187-190 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a6116

Effect of environmental variables on incidence of tick-borne encephalitis, leptospirosis and tularaemia

Zdeněk Hubálek
Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

Objectives: Potential effect of three environmental variables (population density of rodents, global weather in the form of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, and acorn crop) on human morbidity rate of three zoonoses: tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), leptospirosis and tularaemia were analysed in the Czech Republic for the period 1970-1990.

Methods: The Pearson's correlation analysis was used.

Results: The correlation analysis revealed that the significant factor for explaining annual morbidity rates of these zoonoses was the abundance of common voles (Microtus arvalis) in the current year (for leptospirosis) or in the previous calendar year (for TBE and tularaemia).

Conclusions: The two other environmental variables tested (NAO index and acorn production) do not seem to play a significant role in these zoonoses in Central Europe.

Keywords: Czech Republic, rodents, Microtus arvalis, Flavivirus, Leptospira, Francisella, North Atlantic Oscillation, acorn crop

Received: January 29, 2020; Revised: April 9, 2021; Accepted: April 9, 2021; Published: September 30, 2021  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Hubálek Z. Effect of environmental variables on incidence of tick-borne encephalitis, leptospirosis and tularaemia. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2021;29(3):187-190. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a6116. PubMed PMID: 34623117.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Hubálek Z, Rudolf I. Microbial zoonoses and sapronoses. Dordrecht: Springer; 2011. Go to original source...
    2. Hurrell JW. Decadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: regional temperatures and precipitation. Science. 1995 Aug 4;269(5224):676-9. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    3. Hubálek Z. North Atlantic weather oscillation and human infectious diseases in the Czech Republic, 1951-2003. Eur J Epidemiol. 2005;20(3):263-70. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Havlík O. Importance of wild mice overpopulations for the epidemiology of Czechoslovak tick-borne encephalitis. Ceskoslov Hyg Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol. 1954;3(6):300-3. (In Czech.)
    5. Havlík O, Černý V, Rosický B. Probability of occurrence of tick-borne meningoencephalitis in the year 1960. Ceskoslov Epidemiol Mikrobiol Imunol. 1960;9(4):217-22. (In Czech.)
    6. Tkadlec E, Václavík T, Široký P. Rodent host abundance and climate vadiability as predictors of tickborne disease risk 1 year in advance. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019;25(9):1738-41. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Korenberg EI, Kovalevskii YV, Gorelova NB. Tick-host-Borrelia population interactions: long-term records in Eastern Europe. Exp Appl Acarol. 2002;28(1-4):225-9. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    8. Ostfeld RS, Canham CD, Oggenfuss K, Winchcombe RJ, Keesing F. Climate, deer, rodents, and acorns as determinants of variation in Lyme disease risk. PLoS Biol. 2006;4(6):e145. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040145. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    Return to the content