Risk of acquiring tick-borne infections in forestry workers from Lazio, Italy

S. Renzi (1) , A. Martini (1) , A. Binazzi (1) , A. Marinaccio (1) , N. Vonesch (1) , W. d'Amico (1) , T. Moro (2) , C. Fiorentini (3) , M. G. Ciufolini (3) , P. Visca (4) , P. Tomao (1)

1 Department of Occupational Medicine
2 Immune-Haematological and Blood Transfusion Unit
3 Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases [Rome]
4 Department of Biology

The seroprevalence of antibodies to and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus was evaluated in a group of forestry rangers in the Lazio region of Italy. One hundred and forty-five forestry rangers and 282 blood donors were examined by two-tiered serological tests for and TBE virus. Information on occupation, residence, tick bites, outdoor leisure activities and other risk factors was obtained. The prevalence of IgG/IgM antibodies to showed no statistical difference between the two groups, but there was a higher occurrence of IgM antibodies. There were significant differences between indoor and outdoor, urban and rural workplaces among the 145 exposed workers (χ test:  < 0.001), and a higher risk for outdoor rural than urban tasks was detected among the ten Western blot-tested forestry rangers positive to (χ test:  < 0.1). No seropositivity was observed for the TBE virus. Forestry rangers from the Lazio region did not have a higher risk of infection than the blood donors, though an increase in the risk for outdoor tasks in a rural environment was observed.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

S. Renzi, A. Martini, A. Binazzi, A. Marinaccio, N. Vonesch, et al.. Risk of acquiring tick-borne infections in forestry workers from Lazio, Italy. European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 2010, 29 (12), pp.1579-1581. ⟨10.1007/s10096-010-1028-6⟩. ⟨hal-00615133⟩