A systematic review of ecological prevention methods of Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis) in humans

This review analyzed previous research conducted regarding Lyme disease ecological prevention methods. A formalized systematic review search using Web of Science was performed. The terms ‘ecological Lyme disease prevention’ OR ‘arcaracide Lyme disease’ OR ‘insecticide Lyme disease’ were used in the search, and 140 publications were produced that were published in the year 1990 or later. Nine duplicate publications were removed. The abstracts were screened and one publication that was produced in a foreign language was removed. The full articles were screened, and 38 review articles were excluded. The remaining publications were thoroughly screened for relevance to the review topic. 52 publications were excluded, for reasons including that the experiments related to a different disease, Lyme disease prevention in pets, public surveys, DNA sequencing or analysis of B. burgdorferi, and computer models. The studies analyzed in this review were published in 11 different peer-reviewed journals. The majority of studies were published in the Journal of Medical Entomology (52.5%) and Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases (15%).