Vector-borne generalist pathogens colonize several reservoir species and are usually dependent on polyphagous arthropods for dispersal; however, their spatial genetic structure is generally poorly understood. Using fast-evolving genetic markers (20 simple sequence repeat loci, resulting in a total of 119 alleles), we studied the genetic structure of the vector-borne plant-pathogenic bacterium X...

Air, sea and land transport networks continue to expand in reach, speed of travel and volume of passengers and goods carried. Pathogens and their vectors can now move further, faster and in greater numbers than ever before. Three important consequences of global transport network expansion are infectious disease pandemics, vector invasion events and vector-borne pathogen importation. This revie...

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites transmitted by the infectious bite of Anopheles mosquitoes. Vector control of malaria has predominantly focused on targeting the adult mosquito through insecticides and bed nets. However, current vector control methods are often not sustainable for long periods so alternative methods are needed. A novel biocontrol app...

The plague bacillus Yersinia pestis is unique among the pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae in utilizing an arthropod-borne transmission route. Transmission by fleabite is a recent evolutionary adaptation that followed the divergence of Y. pestis from the closely related food- and waterborne enteric pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis A combination of population genetics, comparative genomics, and i...

A composite self-excited PZT-glass cantilever (4mm in length and 2mm width) was fabricated and used to measure attachment of model protein and a model pathogen. Key feature of the microcantilever is that its resonant frequency is dependent on its mass. The cantilever had a mass sensitivity of 5x10-11 g/Hz. The change in resonant frequency was measured as antibody, protein, reacts with the amine...

Verticillium wilt is a serious disease of pistachio caused by Verticilliumdahliae. Control of the disease is difficult due to soil borne nature of the causal agent. Verticillium wilt has been biologically controlled by Trichoderma spp. In the present study, Trichoderma spp. was isolated from soils of pistachio orchards and their effect was investigated on radial growth of Verticillium dahliae b...

Seeds of rice were treated with Garlic (Allium sativum) clove extract @ 1:0, 1:1, 1:2 dilutions in water, allamanda (Allamanda cathartica) leaf extract @ 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 dilutions in water and Provax-200 @ 0.3% for controlling seed borne fungi, where the seed samples of three rice varieties viz. Katharee, Gutee Aus and Kalijira were collected from farmer’s storages of Bangladesh. The seed germina...

Tropical infectious disease prevalence is dependent on many socio-cultural determinants. However, rainfall and temperature frequently underlie overall prevalence, particularly for vector-borne diseases. As a result these diseases have increased prevalence in tropical as compared to temperate regions. Specific to tropical Africa, the tendency to incorrectly infer that tropical diseases are unifo...

BACKGROUND Because of complex interactions of climate variables at the levels of the pathogen, vector, and host, the potential influence of climate change on vector-borne and zoonotic diseases (VBZDs) is poorly understood and difficult to predict. Climate effects on the nonvector-borne zoonotic diseases are especially obscure and have received scant treatment. OBJECTIVE We described known and...

repeated infestations of ticks on mice, even without obvious reduced feeding success, result in reduced transmission of spirochetes between mice and ticks (19). General framework for comparative quantitative studies on transmission of tick-borne diseases using Lyme borreliosis in Europe as an example. variation of Lyme disease spirochetes isolated from Ixodes ricinus ticks and rodents collected...