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International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol 26, 1121-1129, Copyright © 1997 by International Epidemiological Association
P Zeman
BACKGROUND: Clusters of infection can indicate the underlying risk pattern
of an endemic disease. Retrospective epidemiological data have been used to
map the risk of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme borreliosis (LB) in
the Central Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. METHODS: Both reported
places of infection and patients' residences were entered in a geographical
information system; their distance distribution and census data were used
to model density of the population at risk. Point-pattern analysis and
non-parametric kernel smoothing of points of infection were applied to
compute the risk maps. Tick flagging and direct immunofluorescence assay
were used to probe true LB-risk in the field. RESULTS: Tick-borne
encephalitis infections proved to be more clustered than those of LB which
was widespread; however, the most prominent clusters of both diseases
largely correspond to each other. The estimated LB risk correlated well
with tangible disease challenge as assessed from the tick abundance and
Borrelia infection rates at 15 selected localities surveyed annually.
CONCLUSION: The risk of LB is widely and smoothly distributed over the area
studied, apparently following tick habitats wherever they occur, while TBE
is confined to a subset of these locations.
ARTICLES
Objective assessment of risk maps of tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme borreliosis based on spatial patterns of located cases
Regional Centre of Hygiene, Prague, Czech Republic.
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