COS 213-6 - Survey of Tick Communities in Corozal and Orange Walk Districts, Belize, Central America

Thursday, August 18, 2022

9:15 AM – 9:30 AM EDT

Location: 515C

Presenting Author(s)

Caroline Pitts

Research Assistant
University of Notre Dame, United States

Slides (PDF)

Coauthor(s)

NA

Nicole L. Achee

University of Notre Dame, United States
JG

John P. Grieco

University of Notre Dame, United States
AP

Alex Perkins

University of Notre Dame, United States
SM

Stacy Mowry

University of Notre Dame, United States
DL

Donovan Leiva

University of Notre Dame, Belize
MM

Marla Magana-Cansino

Belize Vector and Ecology Center, Belize
MP

Marie Pott

Belize Vector and Ecology Center, Belize
AC

Alvaro Cruz

Belize Vector and Ecology Center, Belize
JC

Jailene Castillo

Belize Vector and Ecology Center, Belize
BF

Benedicte Fustec

University of Notre Dame, France

Background/Question/Methods

Vector-borne diseases make up 17% of the global human disease burden including those transmitted by ticks. Tick-borne diseases vary by ecology, and many represent zoonoses, spilling over from animal populations to humans. The objective of this study was to further characterize tick species capable of carrying pathogens of human health relevance in northern Belize, Central America. Two communities, San Lazaro and Copper Bank, which vary in ecology and associated climates were selected. San Lazaro Represents a secondary forested area, while Copper Bank represents a marine coastal zone. Ticks were hand-collected in January 2020 from dogs within the communities of San Lazaro and Copper Bank in the Orange Walk and Corozal political districts, respectively.

Results/Conclusions

A total of 403 ticks were collected, 287 from San Lazaro and 117 from Copper Bank. All adult (361) and nymphal stage (43) specimens were of the genus Rhipicephalus (396/403; 98.2%) or Amblyomma (7/403, 1.8%). Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks comprised the majority species within the Rhipicephalus genus (348/396, 87.8%), followed by Rhipicecphalus microplus (6/396, 1.5%). Of the few Ambylomma ticks collected, the most common was Amblyomma ovale (3/7, 42.9%). Data on tick communities in Northern Belize is intended to be used for the development of mathematical models to produce spatial tick-borne disease risk estimates, using ecological covariates including, but not limited to, land cover, distance to nearest waterbody, elevation, Palmer Hydrological Drought Index (PHDI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), long term climate, annual precipitation, and annual temperature. These models will provide public health specialists in Belize and the region guidance in preparing for and responding to potential emerging infectious disease threats. Ticks from this study will undergo future molecular testing using standardized protocols developed under the Remote Emerging Disease Intelligence-Network (REDI-NET) to enable viral and non-viral (bacterial, parasitic) pathogen sequencing via the Oxford Nanopore GridION.