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Background: Ticks are a major arthropod vector of zoonotic diseases affecting both humans and domestic animals worldwide. Thus, studying tick microbiota would aid in understanding the potential threats posed by ticks. Methods: Approximately 8,000 unfed ticks, identified as Dermacentor nuttalli , were collected from sylvosteppe western Tianshan mountains. To investigate their pathogens, we divid...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Arthropod-borne pathogens are transmitted into a unique intradermal microenvironment that includes the saliva of their vectors. Immunomodulatory factors in the saliva can enhance infectivity; however, in some cases the immune response that develops to saliva from prior uninfected bites can inhibit infectivity. Most rodent reservoirs of Yersinia pestis experience fleabites regula...

Naturally occurring toxins have been invaluable tools for the study of structural and functional relationships of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC). Few studies have been made of potential channel-modulating substances from blood-feeding arthropods. He we describe the characterization FS50, a salivary protein from the flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, that exhibits an inhibitory activity against the...

Eight commercial insect repellents were tested against Ornithodoros parkeri (Acari: Argasidae), Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae), Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae), and Xenopsylla cheopis (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae). Patterns of tolerance to the test materials were distinctive for each test species. Levels of tolerance were coded as character state 0 (sensitive), 1 (intermediate), or 2 (...

The influence of epidemics of infectious disease on the history of civilization is one of recurring interest, and one which has yet to be comprehensively studied; indeed until our knowledge of the extent and severity of the individual epidemics has been plotted no true measure of their effects can be made. Professor Shrewsbury in this work has attempted to do just this for bubonic plague. All f...