African tick-bite fever is an emerging infectious disease caused by the spotted fever group Rickettsia, Rickettsia africae, and is transmitted by ticks of the genus Amblyomma. To determine the seroprevalence of exposure to R. africae and risk factors associated with infection, we conducted a cross-sectional study of persons in seven rural villages in distinct ecological habitats of Cameroon. We...

Tick-transmitted diseases are an emerging health problem, and the hard tick Ixodes ricinus is the main vector for Borrelia spp., tick-borne encephalitis virus and most of the spotted fever Rickettsiae in Europe. The aim of the present study was to examine the incidence of rickettsial infection in the southernmost and south central parts of Sweden and the Åland Islands in Finland, the risk of in...

Borrelia burgdorferi infection is the most frequent tick-transmitted disease worldwide. Our aim was to assess the seroprevalence of B. burgdorferi infection among forestry workers and farmers in Duzce, in the north-west region of Turkey. Blood samples from 349 forestry workers and farmers and 193 healthy blood donors were obtained to determine the presence of antibodies to B. burgdorferi. A two...

ing tick bite (Garin-Bujadoux-Bannwarth, or Bannwarth’s syndrome). Because a tick-borne infection was suspected, some patients were empirically treated with penicillin and rapidly recovered. Then, in the late 1970s, a tick-borne disease was diagnosed in children in Lyme, Connecticut. The fi rst manifestation of what at fi rst was thought to be a novel disease, named Lyme disease, was erythema a...

Ticks are notorious hematophagous ectoparasites and vectors of many deadly pathogens. As an effective vector, ticks must break the strong barrier provided by the skin of their host during feeding, and their saliva contains a complex mixture of bioactive molecules that paralyze host defenses. The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) mediates immune cell activation at inflammatory ...

Chronic Lyme borreliosis is often considered as a diagnosis option in patients with long lasting miscellaneous symptoms after tick bites. Despite new codified diagnosis algorithm and treatment, persistent signs and symptoms frequently occur. The aim of the study was to assess the diagnosis of Tick Associated PolyOrganic Syndrome (TAPOS) and to evaluate the treatment’s efficacy. A consecutive ca...

Many methods of tick removal that have been reported in the literature have proved to be unsatisfactory in controlled studies. Some methods may even cause harm by inducing the tick to salivate and regurgitate into the host. Ticks are best removed as soon as possible, because the risk of disease transmission increases significantly after 24 hours of attachment. The use of a blunt, medium-tipped,...

Counts of engorged female ticks on naturally infested cattle over a 2 year period, showed that indigenous Nguni cattle harboured significantly fewer Amblyomma hebraeum, Boophilus decoloratus and Hyalomma spp. during periods of peak abundance than either Bonsmara or Hereford cattle. Fewer abscesses, associated with tick bite, were also present in the Nguni cattle. Individual tick resistance indi...

Lyme disease represents a multisystemic tick-borne disease transmitted by ticks from the Ixodes genus. It is estimated a number of 20-100 cases per 100000 inhabitants in North America and around 100-130 cases per 100000 inhabitants in Europe. The disease evolution in stages is easily to be recognized when knowing the moment of the tick bite and it gets difficult in cases where this moment canno...