Increasing Residential Proximity of Lyme Borreliosis Cases to High-Risk Habitats: A Retrospective Study in Central Bohemia, the Czech Republic, 1987–2010

An analysis of historical data on Lyme borreliosis in Central Bohemia between 1987–2010 has revealed that the rate of peri-domestic exposure, the proximity of patients’ residences to high-risk habitats, and the number of disease cases have been interdependent variables and that their common upturn can be dated back to the start of the 1990s or earlier. The data indicate that the disease rise is attributable to translocation of part of the at-risk population nearer to natural environments, rather than to mere intensification of people’s peri-domestic exposure at existing residential locations, or changes in the natural environment itself.