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PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne zoonosis in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and has sig­nificant medical and economic impacts. Four of the LBS (B. burgdorferi ss, B.

garinii, B. afzelii, B. spielmanii. are associ­ated with human disease, and evidence now suggests that three others may also be pathogenic under certain circum­stances (B. valaisiana, B. lusitaniae and B. bisettii). In addi­tion, the newly proposed ‘ B. bavariensis seems to represent a recently evolved, hyperinvasive and aggressive genotype, which is suggested to be at the brink of an epizootic spread across Eurasia(58). In Europe, the nymphs of I. ricinus are the main vector for B. burgdorferi. The risk of human infection is a product of the degree of contact between ticks and humans, prevalence of ticks and prevalence of the different genotypes of B. burgdorferi in ticks in a given location, and the pathogenicity of these genotypes.

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Source: Gavier-Widen D., Meredith A., Duff Paul J. (eds.). Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals and Birds in Europe. London: Wiley-Blackwell,2012. — 568 p.. 2012
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