We report the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in the Netherlands. Serologic screening of roe deer found TBEV-neutralizing antibodies with a seroprevalence of 2%, and TBEV RNA was detected in 2 ticks from the same location. Enhanced surveillance and awareness among medical professionals has led to the identification of autochthonous cases.

Explanations for the dynamics of tick-borne disease systems usually focus on changes in the transmission potential in natural enzootic cycles. These are undoubtedly important, but recent analyses reveal that they may not be quantitatively the most significant side of the interaction between infected ticks and humans. Variation in human activities that may impact inadvertently but positively on ...

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is a proven but relatively new strategy to control soil borne pests of horticultural crops through anaerobic decomposition of organic soil amendments. The ASD technique has primarily been used to control soil borne pathogens; however, this technique has also shown potential to control plant parasitic nematodes and weeds. ASD can utilize a broad range of carbo...

Courtship vibratory signals can be air-borne or substrate-borne. They convey distinct and species-specific information from one individual to its prospective partner. Here, we study the substrate-borne vibratory signals generated by the abdominal quivers of the Drosophila male during courtship; these vibrations travel through the ground towards courted females and coincide with female immobilit...

Food-borne trematodes constitute a family of lung, liver and intestinal flukes that have parasitized mankind and domesticated animals since the distant past. In the modern global village, food-borne trematodes present a daunting challenge of infection with severe morbidity, despite being highly neglected as causes of disease. Urbanization is the population shift from rural to urban centers, as ...

Small rodents serve as reservoir hosts for tick-borne pathogens, such as the spirochetes causing Lyme disease. Whether natural coinfections with other macroparasites alter the success of tick feeding, antitick immunity, and the host's reservoir competence for tick-borne pathogens remains to be determined. In a parasitological survey of wild mice in Berlin, Germany, approximately 40% of Ixodes r...

Vector-borne diseases use to be a major public health concern only in tropical and subtropical areas, but today they are an emerging threat for the continental and developed countries also. Nowadays, in intercontinental countries, there is a struggle with emerging diseases, which have found their way to appear through vectors. Vector-borne zoonotic diseases occur when vectors, animal hosts, cli...

The history of the main bovine tick-borne diseases occurring in South Africa and the role Onderstepoort played in their identification and control is briefly reviewed. The present attitudes regarding the control of tick-borne diseases, taking into account their complexity, is discussed. Gaps in our knowledge regarding heartwater epizootiology and possible future studies are defined.

Little is known about the occurrence of tick-borne encephalitis in Romania. Sheep are an infection source for humans and are useful sentinels for risk analysis. We demonstrate high antibody prevalence (15.02%) among sheep used as sentinels for this disease in 80% of the tested localities in 5 counties of northwestern Romania.