Key Points

The Centre-Val de Loire region, like the rest of mainland France (including Corsica), faces a public health challenge related to tick-borne diseases. The presence of the Ixodes ricinus tick in the region exposes the population to tick bites and potentially to the risk of transmission of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato bacterium, which causes Lyme disease, if the tick itself is infected.

Other diseases such as tick-borne encephalitis, currently identified in people residing in or having visited eastern France, may also pose challenges in the future.

From 2018 to 2023, according to data from the Sentinelles Network, the region recorded an average annual incidence rate for Lyme borreliosis of 72 cases per 100,000 inhabitants seen in primary care, or an average of approximately 1,900 cases seeking medical care per year. Between 2017 and 2022, hospitalized cases (an average of about 45 per year) were primarily people over 60 years of age and children aged 5 to 14, and 40% of all these cases presented with a neurological form. The seroprevalence of Lyme disease among forestry workers, estimated in 2020 at 10.3% in the Centre-Val de Loire region, provides insights into actual exposure to the virus and complements existing knowledge on exposure to tick bites.

According to data from the 2019 Santé publique France Barometer, more than one-third of the region’s population (35%) reports having been bitten by a tick at some point in their lives. Public awareness of the risks associated with tick bites is high, with 94% of the population stating that they know ticks can have consequences for human health. However, protective measures among those who feel exposed vary, with the wearing of long clothing being the most common practice (73%). It is therefore imperative to emphasize the importance of all individual preventive measures against tick bites, particularly the search for and removal of ticks after exposure (only 46% report taking this action).