PRAGMATICK MC meeting and workshop about urban tick and tick-borne pathogen hotspots, effect of anthropogenic pressure
18th April NordTick & PRAGMATICK joint session 4
Chairs: Gábor Földvári (Hungary), Georg Duscher (Austria)
Tick biology, ecology and interplay with pathogenic microorganisms
08.30-09.20 Keynote 4: Önder Ergönül: CCHF
09.20-09.30 Short break
09.30-10.30 Session 4 continued:
Anton de Jong: Rapportera Fästing” – a tool to enhance citizen science-based reporting of tick findings
Jani Sormunen: Citizen Science Monitoring of Tick Contact Areas in Finland – Lessons, Results and Uses for Data
Margriet Harms: Tekenradar.nl a citizen science platform for tick bite surveillance in the Netherlands
Eva Kallio: Amplification or dilution? Quantifying the role of hosts in tick-Borrelia interplay with natural islands mesocosms
Pierre Boyer: Evaluating MALDI-TOF MS for Tick Identification and Pathogen Detection : Advancing Shared Scientific Resources
Nosheen Kiran: Effects of rodent abundance on ticks and Borrelia – results from an experimental and observational study in an island system
10.30-10.50 Coffee break & take down posters
10.50-12.15 Session 4 continued:
Keynote 5: Matias Szabo: Factors related to the spread and urbanization of the tick-borne Brazilian Spotted Fever
Theophilus Yaw Alale: Genomic signatures of hybridization between Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes persulcatus in Finland
Pierre Boyer – Evaluating MALDI-TOF MS for tick identification and pathogen detection: Advancing shared scientific resources
Lene Jung Kjær: Temporal dynamics of tick abundance in Denmark, 2017-2024
12.15-12.30 Pictorial review of the conference, closing address, young scientist award, welcome to NordTick 2026!
12.30-14.00 End of NordTick & lunch for NordTick participants, PRAGMATICK participants can buy lunch in the town
THE PRAGMATICK MEETING CONTINUES IN ROOM 22-23
14.00-14.15 PRAGMATICK welcome from Gábor Földvári
14.15-14.25 Kayleigh Hansford: WG2 recap of aims/objectives
14.25-15.25 WG2 Urban ticks (10 mins to present, 5 mins questions per talk)
Natasha Rudenko: Ticks and TBP in an urban homeless and shelter animals
Nadya Mitkova: Borrelia burgdorferi infection in bird-feeding Ixodes ricinus ticks in Bulgaria
Jani Sormunen: Ticks, tick-borne pathogens and maintenance hosts in urban green spaces in Finland
Ömer Okrun: Investigation on the population structure of Dermacentor marginatus in Anatolia and the pathogens they carry
15.25-15.45 Coffee break
15.45-16.30 WG2 Urban ticks (10 mins to present, 5 mins questions per talk)
Kurtesh Sherifi: First detection of zoonotic tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes ricinus from urban area in Republic of Kosovo
Grace Plahe: Ixodes ricinus abundance and Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. prevalence in urban greenspaces of UK towns and their associated hinterland
Andrei Daniel Mihalca: Tick Talk: From Forests to Streets
16:30-18.30 Management Committee meeting
Note that there is no organised group dinner
19th April PRAGMATICK STSMs & stakeholder engagement
After presentations from STSM grantees, scientists from the UK Health Security Agency’s Behavioural Science and Insights Unit will give an overview of how to use systematic and evidence-based approaches to design, deliver and evaluate interventions to encourage uptake of recommended public health messaging. These sessions will involve a quick introduction to the approach, an interactive stakeholder mapping exercise, and a workshop exploring good practice for community and stakeholder engagement.
08.30-09.30 STSM grantees (10 mins to present, 10 mins for questions at end)
Camille Philippe: Phylogeny and 16S population structure of the tick microbiome in ticks collected from different ecoregions in Belgium
Éva Szabó: Which pathogens can the neglected winter ticks (Haemaphysalis inermis) carry?
Ilaria Prandi: Study of tick-borne pathogens in ticks and tissues of European hedgehogs living in urban and peri-urban settings in Italy
Eleftherios Meletis: Assessment of scutal/coxal indices, presence of Borrelia in ticks to identify high-risk Borrelia infected patients with BLCMs
Noureddine Mechouk: Population genetics of Dermacentor spp and Hyalomma spp from Algeria
09.30-10.00 Dale Weston/Sarah Masterton: An introduction to behavioural science and intervention design
10.00-10.20 Coffee break
10.20-11.05 Dale Weston/Sarah Masterton: Stakeholder and behavioural mapping in groups
11.05-11.50 Dale Weston/Sarah Masterton: What makes engagement successful?
11.50-13.15 Lunch (you can purchase from a venue in the town or hotel, but hotel space is limited)
13.15-14.00 Engagement (10 mins to present, 5 mins questions per talk)
Felix Valcarcel: Citizen-scientific project aiming at the establishment of a national Tick Surveillance Plan in Spain
Cláudia Norte: “Find the tick before it finds you” – raising children’s awareness about tick-borne diseases.
Kayleigh Hansford: Tick awareness and engagement in the UK
14.00-14:45 Kayleigh Hansford/Jolyon Medlock: Group discussion on gaps/priorities, outputs and 2024 plans (implementing DAMA and joining up across the group)
14.45-15.15 Close