Are you or your pet bitten by a tick? You can make your contribution to science by participating in the CiTIQUE participatory research program. The “Tick Reporting” application, launched in 2017, offers any citizen the opportunity, as its name suggests, to report bites of which he is a victim, and even to send the responsible tick to the “All researchers” laboratory. from the INRAE Grand Est-Nancy center which coordinates the program. In three years, more than 23,000 reports of bites on both humans and animals, and across France have been collected, explains Irène Carravieri, leader of the CiTIQUE network. And no less than 20,000 ticks have come to feed the only participatory tiquotheque in France, installed on the Champenoux site in the suburbs of Nancy.
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16% of ticks carrying Borrelia
During the confinement, there were just as many reports: “This confirms one of the first results of the CiTIQUE program”, observes Irene Carravieri: “Nearly 30% concern stings that take place in private gardens. Prevention is therefore just as important as in the forest. “
Today, 1,400 biting ticks from the library have been analyzed: “32% carried at least one pathogen. 16% of these ticks analyzed were carriers of Borrelia ”, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease. “This is important because this data will allow us to draw up a mapping of the risk of infection. Thanks to these analyzes, it has been observed that Borrelia is present in all regions of France. We must therefore work on prevention everywhere. “
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Also in winter
Another observation drawn from research work, even if it still needs to be deepened: “The peak of reports on animals arrives a month before the peak of reports in humans”, explains Irene Carravieri: “Animals could become sentinels of the risk of bites in humans. “
If spring and autumn are the periods when ticks are most active, they also “bite in winter” even if it is to a lesser extent, warns the representative. In question: “Winters that are always milder and more humid. “
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