Simulating tick bites in the Netherlands using agent-based modelling

Abstract

The number of people with tick bites or Lyme disease has been increasing in the Netherlands since the 1990s. In 2017 more than 27.000 people had Lyme disease and something needs to be done about that. This research focusses on the environmental and human factors that influence the number of tick bites. These factors are used as variables in an agent-based model to simulate tick bites in different areas in the Netherlands. The data used for this research comes from Tekenradar and is Voluntary Geographic Information. The model shows that human factors such as activity type and age are definitely of influence on the number of tick bites. Besides that, environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation and vegetation type are of influence as well. The model still needs to be improved to become more realistic but it is a first step to gain more insight into the factors that influence tick bites.