Mapping of walker’s route and the exposure to ticks bites in a forest environment.

Details

Supervisors

Vanwambeke, Sophie ; Rousseau, Raphaël

Faculty

Faculté des sciences

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences géographiques, orientation générale, à finalité approfondie

Abstract

The tick is one of the species most responsible for transmitting zoonoses just after the mosquito. The most widespread specie of tick in Europe is Ixodes ricinus which is the principal contributor to the spread of the Lyme Borreliosis. Ticks are mainly found in green areas such as gardens, parks, fields and forests. The main objective of this study is to analyse the factors that influence the exposition and vulnerability to tick bites in the Bois de Lauzelle in the city of Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium and to create a frequentation map of the forest. A survey was made in order to gather informations about the walkers that come to the Bois de Lauzelle: profiles, habits and knowledge. A map was also given to track the path taken by the walkers. After statistical analysis, we found that hiking, owning a cat, making halts for discussion and a high level of knwoledge is linked to tick bites. We found also that close-to-nature activities, owning a dog and already having tick bites is linked to a high level of knowledge. Finally, we found that a walk longer than a hour and a visit by recommendation foster the risk taking inside the forest. The frequentation map show us that the most frequented routes are linked to the circuits already existing within the forest and that there is a high risk of human-tick contact nearby the scout's meeting place. The prevention must focus on the profiles at risk such as the hikers by training the ones who have a high probability of seeing them like sellers in specialized shops. It was proved that large prevention campaign are also effective with the population.