Ticks are the first vector of animal diseases in the world, the second for human diseases after the mosquito. In humans, they transmit in particular the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, causing approximately 27,000 new cases per year in France.
Since the 2000s, ANSES, INRA and the National Veterinary School of Alfort have been carrying out research on ticks, within ANSES’s Maisons-Alfort Animal Health Laboratory and the Laboratoire Tous Chercheurs of the INRA Center Grand Est Nancy. This research combines fundamental studies and participatory research involving citizens. The studies developed make it possible to better understand the pathogenic agents transmitted by ticks and therefore to better combat them.
As part of a project called CITIQUE, researchers have developed with scientific partners, in particular the national vector expertise center and the national reference center for Borrelia, as well as the Ministry of Solidarity and Health, a website and a smartphone application called Signalement-Tique. The application can be downloaded from the AppStore and PlayStore platforms.
Thanks to the Signalement-Tique app, a practical and interactive tool, walkers can have information on prevention or how to remove a tick wherever they are. It will provide tick presence maps that will be used for prevention actions.
Thanks to the Signalement-Tique app, unprecedented data collection expected
The data collected will be used to advance the scientific knowledge needed to better understand and therefore better prevent tick-borne diseases, in particular through the development of risk estimation models. Citizens participating in the project will play a decisive role and will provide answers to many questions: can you be bitten in winter and summer when the favorable periods are spring and autumn? Are there times when ticks are more active and bite more? Do we rather get bitten in forests, in urban parks or in our gardens? What are the most common pathogens in ticks? In which regions? Users will thus have access to practical information and advice on what to do in the event of a tick bite.
The Signalement-Tique app allows citizens to be better informed of the risks of contamination by ticks, while actively involving them in research.