Risk of Infected Blacklegged Tick Encounter: Nymphs (May to Sep): Beginning 2008
health.data.ny.gov | Last Updated 7 May 2024Tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis, are a significant issue in New York (NY), impacting well over 10,000 individuals yearly. The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has a responsibility to perform surveillance to monitor and track different kinds of tick-borne diseases. While most surveillance is done via reportable cases of human illness, tick-borne diseases can also be monitored by collecting ticks from the environment (called active surveillance) and testing them for bacteria, viruses, and parasites known to cause illness in people (collectively called pathogens). Active surveillance allows local county health departments in NY, excluding New York City (NYC), to have a better understanding of the tick populations present in the state, the species composition of the tick population, and the rate at which ticks are infected with different pathogens. The Department started testing ticks in 2002 in limited areas; testing statewide began in 2008. Further information on NYSDOH active tick surveillance can be found at the URL below and in the Data Methodology section below. https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/lyme/
This dataset has the following 11 columns:
| Column Name | API Column Name | Data Type | Description | Sample Values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NY Region | ny_region | text | The region where ticks (all species and life stages) were collected. Ticks are collected from one or more publicly accessible sites per county sampled. Regions based on the “I Love NY” tourism regions. | Finger Lakes Long Island Adirondacks Greater Niagara Hudson Valley view top 100 |
| Total Sites Visited | total_sites_visited | number | The total number of publicly accessible sites visited in the region. For the nymph tick dataset, sites were visited from May-September. | 16 10 13 11 22 view top 100 |
| Average Nymph Density | average_adult_density | number | The average number of nymph deer ticks (also known as blacklegged ticks or their scientific name Ixodes scapularis) collected per 100 square meters of area sampled in the region. Tick population density is calculated only from the total nymph deer ticks collected (and does not include other species or life stages collected at the time of the site visit). | 38.39166667 21.03157895 88.47272727 23.68536585 12.47272727 view top 100 |
| Total Tested | total_tested | number | Total number of nymphal deer ticks that were tested for the following: Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease bacteria), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (anaplasmosis bacteria), Babesia microti (parasite causing babesiosis), Borrelia miyamotoi (relapsing fever bacteria). Ticks are tested individually. | 753 462 125 312 100 view top 100 |
| Prevalence of infected ticks | prevalence_of_infected_ticks | number | The proportion of nymph deer ticks that were positive for at least one pathogen. Prevalence is calculated by dividing the total number of positive nymph deer ticks by the total number of nymph deer ticks collected and tested from the region during visits to publicly accessible sites from May-September and multiplying this number by 100 to show a percentage. | 0.317307692 0.296969697 0.284232365 0.242718447 0.283261803 view top 100 |
| Tick Risk Score | tick_risk_score | number | Relative risk of encountering a nymph deer tick infected with any pathogen in the region. Risk score is the product of average nymph deer tick density and the prevalence of infected nymph deer ticks divided by 100. | 0.7 1.1 0.6 2.1 0.1 view top 100 |
| Site Total | site_total | number | The total number of ticks (all species and life stages) collected in the region during visits to publicly accessible sites. For the nymph tick dataset, sites were visited from May-September. | 143 314 5045 1202 1315 view top 100 |
| Longitude | longitude | number | Column used for mapping purposes. | -72.950622 -78.72453295 -77.117221 -73.92603466 -75.2139045 view top 100 |
| Latitude | latitude | number | Column used for mapping purposes. | 42.75561667 42.726209 43.82792389 42.069047 44.146124 view top 100 |
| The_geom | the_geom | multipolygon | Column used for mapping purposes. | view top 100 |
| Category | category | text | Medium High Low view top 100 |