As a consequence of global temperature rise, ticks (Ixodida) and tick-borne diseases are emerging. During tick attachment to human skin, the feeding cavity becomes site transmission for salivary compounds, which can exert immunosuppressive effects. Tick-borne pathogens including Borrelia burgdorferi may benefit from dampened immune activation at bite site. We therefore assessed local circulatin...

Clinical characteristics associated with isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato from skin have not been fully evaluated. To gain insight into predictors for a positive EM skin culture, we compared basic demographic, epidemiologic, and clinical data in 608 culture-proven and 501 culture-negative adult patients with solitary EM. A positive Borrelia spp. skin culture was associated with olde...

African tick-bite fever, caused by Rickettsia africae, is the most common tick-borne rickettsiosis in sub-Saharan Africa. Mediterranean spotted fever due to Rickettsia conorii also occurs in the region but is more prevalent in Mediterranean countries. Using microimmunofluorescence, we compared the development of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM titers in 48 patients with African tick-bite fever a...

BACKGROUND African tick-bite fever, a tickborne disease caused by Rickettsia africae, is endemic in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and in the French West Indies. Most cases reported in the literature occurred in middle-aged, otherwise-healthy persons and corresponded to benign diseases. The course of African tick bite fever in elderly people is less well documented. METHODS The medical rec...

Borrelia burgdorferi can very quickly move from the site of a tick bite into the circulatory system, where it can circulate throughout the body. This unique bacterium has a distinct and insidious method for passing through the capillary walls of blood vessels and nestling its way deep inside many organs and tissues of the human body. In animal models, the Lyme spirochete within mere hours of a ...

Tick-borne pathogens cause potent infections. These pathogens benefit from molecules contained in tick saliva that have evolved to modulate host innate and adaptive immune responses. This is called "saliva-activated transmission" and enables tick-borne pathogens to evade host immune responses. Ticks feed on their host for relatively long periods; thus, mechanisms counteracting the inflammation-...

Climate change is affecting human health worldwide. In particular, changes to local and global climate parameters influence vector water-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever, tick-borne encephalitis. The Republic of Sakha in northern Russia no exception. Long-term trends increasing annual temperatures thawing permafrost have corresponded with the northward range expansion tick-species Repu...