![]() Tick-borne pathogen surveillance in human populations can be achieved through disease reporting. For example, human recreation patterns may not synchronize with tick phenology patterns, so exposure to ticks increases when tick abundance decreases ( 7), or surveillance may neglect particular habitats in favor of sites or habitats that can guarantee reliable samples ( 8). Importantly, field collections may not accurately characterize human-tick exposure, a key component to understanding and predicting TBDs, if surveillance does not reflect variation in patterns of human use. However, this approach can be logistically expensive, time-consuming, and reliant on the availability and motivation of personnel consequently, data can be geographically or temporally limited. Field collections can provide high-resolution spatial data for reservoir or tick distributions and pathogen prevalence ( 3, – 6). These factors are often described by surveillance of ticks or reservoir hosts in the field. The incidence of tick-borne diseases is a culmination of complex transmission processes: reservoir host distribution, tick distribution, spatial ecology of pathogen prevalence in ticks and vertebrates, and facets of human-tick exposure (seasonality of behavior, risk factors for exposure, susceptibility to infection, etc.). These pathogens are maintained in wildlife host populations, and tick-borne disease cases in humans result from spillover from these wildlife populations via a tick bite ( 2). scapularis also transmits Babesia microti and Powassan virus ( 2). Both of these tick species harbor and transmit Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum additionally, I. In the United States, two tick species are responsible for the preponderance of tick-borne diseases: the black-legged tick ( Ixodes scapularis) east of the Rocky Mountains and the western black-legged tick ( Ixodes pacificus) west of the Rocky Mountains ( 2). These changes have been spurred by the discovery of new pathogens and vector or pathogen expansion ( 1). Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) have seen dynamic changes and increased incidence across the last 2 decades ( 1). Citizen science collections provide a method to harness the general public to collect samples, enabling real-time monitoring of pathogen distribution and prevalence. Monitoring these pathogens is resource intensive, requiring both field and laboratory support thus, data sets are often limited within their spatial and temporal extents. ![]() IMPORTANCE In the 21st century, zoonotic pathogens continue to emerge, while previously discovered pathogens continue to have changes within their distribution and prevalence. ![]() We utilized our national citizen science tick collection and testing program to describe the distribution and prevalence of four Ixodes-borne pathogens, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Borrelia miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia microti, across the continental United States. Citizen science tick collections and testing campaigns supplement these data and provide timely estimates of pathogen prevalence and distributions to help characterize and understand tick-borne disease threats to communities. Traditionally, pathogen distribution and prevalence have been monitored through case reports or scientific collections of ticks or reservoir hosts, both of which have challenges that impact the extent, availability, and accuracy of these data. These shifts have significantly increased the need for accurate portrayal of real-time pathogen distributions and prevalence in hopes of stemming increases in human morbidity. ![]() ![]() Tick-borne diseases have expanded over the last 2 decades as a result of shifts in tick and pathogen distributions. ![]()
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