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Archaeology in the Era of Powassan and Expanding Tick-Borne Infection

Strategies for Prevention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2017

Merrill Singer  and
Nicola Bulled
Merrill Singer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 354 Mansfield Rd., Storrs, CT 06269 (Merrill.Singer@uconn.edu)
Nicola Bulled
Affiliation:
Interdisciplinary and Global Studies, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA 01609 (nbulled@wpi.edu)
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Abstract

Archaeologists face a long list of job-related health risks. In recent decades, these health threats have increased because of the expanded ranges of various tick species, the growing number of human tick-borne diseases, the ability of ticks to harbor and simultaneously transmit multiple pathogens, and the spread to humans of zoonotic tick-borne diseases that have a high fatality rate, including the encephalitis-causing Powassan virus. This paper assesses the health risk that ticks pose to archaeologists working in infested areas, discusses the behaviors that put archaeologists at highest risk, and presents a set of recommendations for reducing potential harm.

A través de su labor, los arqueólogos se exponen a un gran número de riesgos a la salud. En la últimas décadas la amenaza a la salud de los arqueólogos ha incrementado junto con la expansión del ámbito de varias especies de garrapatas, el aumento de las enfermedades transmitidas a humanos por garrapatas, la capacidad de las garrapatas de hospedar y a la vez transmitir múltiples patógenos y el contagio para humanos de enfermedades zoonóticas transmitidas por garrapatas. Como por ejemplo, el virus de Powassan, el cual puede resultar en encefalitis. Este artículo evalúa el riesgo que las garrapatas presentan a la salud de los arqueólogos y elabora una lista de recomendaciones para reducir posibles daños a su salud.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 351 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2015

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