Hundreds of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa require a parasitic arthropod for transmission between vertebrate hosts. The failure of many conventional methods of vector-borne disease control has lead modern research to consider biological control methods. Lyme disease is a potentially debilitating condition that has caused many people to seek an effective means of protecting themselves from tick...

Over 80% of reported cases of Lyme disease in the United States occur in coastal regions of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. The genetic structure of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) and its main tick vector (Ixodes scapularis) was studied concurrently and comparatively by sampling natural populations of I. scapularis ticks along the East Coast from 1996 to 1998. Borrelia...

Interest in microbial communities, or microbiota, of blood-feeding arthropods such as ticks (order Parasitiformes, suborder Ixodida) is increasing. Studies on tick microorganisms historically emphasized pathogens of high medical or veterinary importance. Current techniques allow for simultaneous detection of pathogens of interest, non-pathogenic symbionts, like Coxiella-LE and Francisella-LE, a...

Powassan/deer tick virus (POWV/DTV), a tick-borne flavivirus, is emerging in the United States. However, little work has assessed spatial distribution and infection prevalence density of infected vector ticks Pennsylvania (PA). Therefore, we conducted active surveillance for Ixodes scapularis every PA county screened pathogen presence by real-time RT-PCR. A total 1,672 pools were assayed 5,588 ...

In Norway, the Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus lagopus) is experiencing population declines and nationally Red Listed as Near Threatened. Although disease has not generally been regarded an important factor behind fluctuations for in occurrence poorly investigated. Both louping-ill virus (LIV) closely related tick-borne encephalitis are found along southern part of Norwegian coast. We assesse...

Although the importance of rodents as reservoirs for a number of tick-borne infections is well established, comparatively little is known about the potential role of shrews, despite them occupying similar habitats. To address this, blood and tick samples were collected from common shrews (Sorex araneus) and field voles (Microtus agrestis), a known reservoir of various tick-borne infections, fro...

Lyme disease cases caused by Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. bacteria is increasing steadily in Europe, in part due to the expansion of the vector, Ixodes ricinus. Wild reservoir hosts are typically recurrently infested. Understanding the impact of these cumulative parasite exposures on the host's health is, therefore, central to predict the distribution of tick populations and their pathogens. Here,...

The human-biting adult stage of the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni) can cause tick paralysis in humans and domestic animals and is the primary tick vector in the intermountain west of the pathogens causing Colorado tick fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia. We conducted drag sampling studies in Poudre Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park of Larimer County, CO, ...

Hard ticks feed for several days or weeks on their hosts. Blood feeding is assisted by tick saliva, which is injected in the host skin regularly, alternating with blood ingestion. Tick saliva contains hundreds or thousands of different peptides and other bioactive compounds that assist feeding by inhibiting their hosts' blood clotting, platelet aggregation, vasoconstriction, as well as pain and...

Groups of nymphal Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Muguga, having a mean of 1 or 9 Theileria parva Muguga-infected salivary gland acini per tick, were kept under quasi-natural conditions at an altitude of 1950 m or 20 degrees C at a relative humidity of 85% in the laboratory and their survival and infection prevalence and abundance determined over time. Theileria parva infections for both categorie...