tick born

Dear Editor, Ticks carry many diseases, bacteria, and viruses and represent a very important healthcare issue both in Croatia and globally. Although most ticks are not infected with pathogens dangerous to humans, some ticks can transmit infectious diseases with significant morbidity and mortality. This is caused by the increasing incidence of many tick-borne diseases over a growing geographical area. Many factors influence which species of ticks are present in a given geographical area, as well as the density of their population and the risk of human exposure to infected ticks...

BACKGROUND: Emerging tick-transmitted illnesses are increasingly recognized in the United States (US). To identify multiple potential tick-borne pathogens in patients from the Upper Midwest and Northeast US with suspected anaplasmosis, we used state-of-the-art methods (polymerase chain reaction [PCR] and paired serology) to test samples from patients in whom anaplasmosis had been excluded. METHODS: Five hundred sixty-eight patients without anaplasmosis had optimal samples available for confirmation of alternative tick-borne pathogens, including PCR and/or paired serology (acute-convalescent interval ≤42 days)...

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES: Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) is a tick-borne, zoonotic viral hemorrhagic fever, previously known to be endemic to the state of Karnataka, India. The first outbreak of KFD in Goa state was reported in the Sattari taluka, in North Goa in 2015. This study aimed to investigate the outbreak and report the clinical manifestations and risk factors in people diagnosed with KFD. METHODS: A mixed methods approach was used, which included a case series report and 19 in-depth interviews (IDIs) conducted with people diagnosed with KFD...

Rickettsial infections are emerging and/or re-emerging disease that poses a serious global threat to humans and animals. Transmission to humans and animals is through the bite of the ectoparasites including ticks, fleas and chigger mites. Most of the rickettsial diseases are endemic in India, but underdiagnosed. This review is aimed at analyzing the prevalence of rickettsiosis in India and the advancement of rickettsial diagnosis. We have conducted a systematic review on the prevalence of rickettsial disease in India ranging from 1...

Dabie Banda virus (DBV), a tick-borne pathogen, was first identified in China in 2009 and causes profound symptoms including fever, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and multi-organ dysfunction, which is known as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). In the last decade, global incidence and mortality of SFTS increased significantly, especially in East Asia. Though previous studies provide understandings of clinical and immunological characteristics of SFTS development, comprehensive insight of antiviral immunity response is still lacking...

Wild boars or feral pigs are classified by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources (IBAMA) in "Category I of invasive exotic species". They cause economic losses, harm the environment, serve as hosts and reservoirs for several zoonotic disease agents, and provide a blood meal for tick species that act as vectors for zoonotic diseases. The objective of this study was to identify tick species on wild boars, assess host-seeking ticks in the related environment, and identify other potential tick hosts coexisting with wild boars on a farm located in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil...

The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus is a complex of tick species with an unsettled species concept. In Europe, R. sanguineus is considered mainly a Mediterranean tick with sporadic findings in central and northern Europe. R. sanguineus is known as a vector of a range of pathogens of medical and veterinary importance, most of which not yet reported as autochthonous in Hungary. A total of 1839 ticks collected by veterinarians from dogs and cats were obtained in Hungary. The study aims at precise determination of ticks identified as R...

The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (s.l.), is an important vector for Rickettsia rickettsii, causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Current public health prevention and control efforts to protect people involve preventing tick infestations on domestic animals and in and around houses. Primary prevention tools rely on acaricides, often synthetic pyrethroids (SPs); resistance to this chemical class is widespread in ticks and other arthropods. Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. is a complex that likely contains multiple unique species and although the distribution of this complex is global, there are differences in morphology, ecology, and perhaps vector competence among these major lineages...

Bovine anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease caused by Anaplasma marginale in the United States. The objective of this study was to use a survey tool to generate information for beef operations in California on anaplasmosis prevention and control management, including to what extent management activities were informed by perceived herd-level exposure to A. marginale infection or occurrence of clinical anaplasmosis cases. We mailed 2,621 questionnaires with questions on Anaplasma status, herd demographics, anaplasmosis control and prevention measures, and environmental factors to beef ranchers in California in October 2020...

Ticks are responsible for the vast majority of vector-borne illnesses in the United States. The number of reported tick-borne disease (TBD) cases has more than doubled in the past 20 years. The majority of TBD cases occur in warm weather months in individuals with recent outdoor activities in wooded areas. The risk of contracting a TBD is also highly dependent on geographic location. Between 24 and 48 hours of tick attachment is required for most disease transmission to occur. Only 50% to 70% of patients with a TBD will recall being bitten by a tick, and TBDs are often initially misdiagnosed as a viral illness...

Members of the Orthonairovirus genus (family Nairoviridae) include many tick-borne viruses of significant human and animal health impact, with several recently-documented pathogenic viruses lacking sufficient epidemiological information. We screened 215 adult ticks of seven species collected in Bulgaria, Georgia, Latvia and Poland for orthonairoviruses, followed by nanopore sequencing (NS) for genome characterization. Initial generic amplification revealed Sulina virus (SULV, Orthonairovirus sulinaense), for which an updated amplification assay was used, revealing an overall prevalence of 2...

Ticks and tick-borne pathogens (TTBP) pose a serious threat to animal and human health globally. Anaplasma bovis, an obligatory intracellular bacterium, is one of the more recent species of the Family Anaplasmaceae to be formally described. Owing to its diminutive size, microscopic detection presents a formidable challenge, leading to it being overlooked in laboratory settings lacking advanced equipment or resources, as observed in various regions, including Thailand. This study aimed to undertake a genetic analysis of A...

BACKGROUND: Lyme borreliosis is a tick-borne disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) sensu lato complex. Previous studies have suggested an association between Lyme borreliosis and heart failure, which have been suggested to be a possible manifestation of Lyme carditis. We aimed to investigate the risk of heart failure among individuals tested for serum Bb antibodies, and serum Bb seropositive individuals. METHODS: We performed a matched nationwide cohort study (Denmark, 1993-2020) and included 52,200 Bb seropositive individuals, and two age- and sex-matched comparison cohorts: 1) 104,400 Bb seronegative comparison cohort members, and 2) 261,000 population controls...

Based on increases in reported cases of tick-borne illnesses, expanding ranges of native ticks, and repeated documentation of arrivals of nonnative tick species, there is a clear need for their effective management in the United States. Synthetic acaricides have proven efficacious in tick management, but real/perceived negative impacts to the environment and nontarget, beneficial insects must be addressed. We sought to determine whether late fall synthetic acaricide application, when most susceptible beneficial insects are presumably dormant or have migrated, could effectively manage host-seeking spring Ixodes scapularis Say abundances as compared to traditional spring application...

Tick-borne pathogens are transmitted by a wide range of tick species and affect both human and animal health. Understanding the diversity of these pathogens and their co-infection rates in domesticated animals in urban areas is crucial for effective disease management and prevention. In this study, a total of 565 owned dogs in the central region of Thailand were investigated for the infection rate of three genera of Ehrlichia , Hepatozoon , and Babesia infection using multiplex PCR. The results revealed an overall infection rate of 19...

Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne infectious disease in Europe and the USA. Borrelia burgdorferi, as the causative agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted to the mammalian host during the tick blood meal. To adapt to the different encountered environments, Borrelia has adjusted the expression pattern of various, mostly outer surface proteins. The function of most B. burgdorferi outer surface proteins remains unknown. We determined the crystal structure of a previously uncharacterized B. burgdorferi outer surface protein BBK01, known to belong to the paralogous gene family 12 (PFam12) as one of its five members...

The burden of tick-borne diseases continues to increase in the United States. Tick surveillance has been implemented to monitor changes in the distribution and prevalence of human disease-causing pathogens in ticks that frequently bite humans. Such efforts require accurate identification of ticks to species and highly sensitive and specific assays that can detect and differentiate pathogens from genetically similar microbes in ticks that have not been demonstrated to be pathogenic in humans. We describe a modification to a next generation sequencing pathogen detection assay that includes a target that accurately identifies Ixodes ticks to species...

BACKGROUND: Urban green spaces are important for human health, but they may expose visitors to tick-borne diseases. This not only presents a potential public health challenge but also undermines the expected public health gains from urban green spaces. The aim of this study is to assess the public health risk of tick-borne diseases in an urban green space used for recreation in Stockholm, Sweden. METHODS: We used a mixed method approach identifying both the magnitude of the tick hazard and the extent of the human exposure to tick-borne diseases...

BACKGROUND: Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus infects the central nervous system and may lead to severe neurological complications or death. This study assessed immunogenicity, safety, and tolerability of TBE vaccine in Japanese participants 1 year of age and older. METHODS: This phase 3, multicenter, single-arm, open-label study was conducted in Japanese adult (≥ 16 years) and pediatric (1-< 16 years) populations. Participants received a single 0...

Ixodid (hard) ticks play important ecosystem roles and have significant impacts on animal and human health via tick-borne diseases and physiological stress from parasitism. Tick occurrence, abundance, activity, and key life-history traits are highly influenced by host availability, weather, microclimate, and landscape features. As such, changes in the environment can have profound impacts on ticks, their hosts, and the spread of diseases. Researchers recognize that spatial and temporal factors influence activity and abundance and attempt to account for both by conducting replicate sampling bouts spread over the tick questing period...