Project 458904

The incidence of Lyme disease (LD) and other tickborne illnesses is increasing in Canada due to ongoing climate and environmental changes. This poses a significant threat to the health and wellbeing of human populations in the area. The goal of my proposed research is to assess the impact and acceptability of interventions to reduce Lyme Disease (LD) risk in urban and peri-urban settings, using the city of Ottawa as the study site through four objectives: (1) to identify and evaluate promising strategies for LD prevention and control through a systematic review; (2) to assess the impact of selected environmental control measures on LD environmental risk along peri-urban recreational trails using experimental field studies; (3) to develop and evaluate an educational outreach strategy for LD prevention to reduce human exposure to ticks in recreational and residential settings using mixed methods research and intervention implementation; and (4) to assess the acceptability of different LD prevention and control strategies using a cross-sectional survey. This project will contribute to evidence based programs to reduce LD with high public acceptability.