Climate change with increasing temperatures during the summer period and a prolonged vegetation season has led to findings of new tick species in Sweden which may establish in the country in the near future. This means an increased risk of infected animals and people with tick-borne parasites, bacteria and viruses that do not currently occur in Sweden. Diseases previously considered tropical may now be found in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe. Hyalomma spp. and Dermacentor reticulatus are two examples of tick species that can carry new infectious agents which can affect both animals and humans (zoonoses). These tick species have been seen more often in northern Europe during the last 10 years.
The aim of the thesis is to compile results from four years of passive monitoring of exotic ticks in Sweden. When finished, the student should have improved the existing surveillance system using digital reporting and image analysis.
The thesis is part of the project IDAlert, Infectious Disease decision-support tools and Alert systems. IDAlert is an interdisciplinary project where One Health is in focus. One of the goals of the project is to increase preparedness regarding new tick-borne infectious diseases by using new systems that can give us early warning signals. One such system is the reporting of exotic ticks by the public.
Within the project, the student will classify a large number of photos of ticks sent by the public to the National Veterinary Institute (SVA) during the period 2019–2022 (ongoing). The quality of the images will be evaluated (e.g., functional/images from different angles, blurry images, photos of other organisms than ticks, etc.) in order to create a new digital report system that can be used by the public. In addition, data on location, season, host, sex, blood feeding, etc. will be extracted. Statistical analyzes will be performed on the compiled data. The results will be presented as maps and tables.
The student may also participate in the summer's activities involving the monitoring of exotic ticks, which includes participating in species identification and analysis of infectious agents.
Immediate (ready in December 2023)
Both English- and Swedish-speaking students are welcome! The project is part of an international project.
Contacts at SVA: Anna Omazic, anna.omazic@sva.se; Stefan Widgren, stefan.widgren@sva.se
Link to project page: Interested to read more about the IDAlert project, see here: IDAlert – Infectious Disease decision-support tools and Alert systems (idalertproject.eu)