Lyme borreliosis is increasing rapidly in many parts of the world and is the most commonly occurring vector-borne disease in Europe and the USA. The disease is transmitted by ticks of the genus Ixodes. They require a blood meal at each stage of their life cycle and feed on a wide variety of wild and domestic animals as well as birds and reptiles. Transmission to humans is incidental and can occ...

Babesiosis is a vector-borne, tick-borne disease of worldwide distribution (Otranto, et al. [1]), caused by protozoa the genus Babesia, infecting both domestic and wild animals (Uilenberg, [2-5]).

224 ABSTRACT: The risk of Lyme disease depends on climate, geography, the abundance of specific insect vectors, and human interaction with these. In BC, Ixodes pacificus, the primary tick vector for the causeative spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, has consistently been found in low numbers in populous areas, and rates of infection in this tick remain at less than 1%. Correspondingly, rates of h...

In North America, the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, an obligate haematophagus arthropod, is a vector of several human pathogens including Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent. In this report, we show that the tick salivary gland transcriptome and proteome is dynamic and changes during the process of engorgement. We demonstrate, using a guinea pig model of I. scapularis feeding a...

Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is transmitted to humans by bite of Ixodes scapularis ticks. The mechanisms by which the bacterium is transmitted from vector to host are poorly understood. In this study, we show that the F(ab)(2) fragments of BBE31, a B.burgdorferi outer-surface lipoprotein, interfere with the migration of the spirochete from tick gut into the hemolym...

Rickettsiosis is a potentially fatal tick borne disease. It is caused by the obligate intracellular bacteria Rickettsia, which is transferred to humans through salivary excretions of ticks during the biting process. Globally, the incidence of tick-borne diseases is increasing; as such, there is a need for a greater understanding of tick-host interactions to create more informed risk management ...

The epidemiology of vector-borne zoonoses depends on the movement of both hosts and vectors, which can differ greatly in intensity across spatial scales. Because of their life history traits and small size, vector dispersal may be frequent, but limited in distance. However, little information is available on vector movement patterns at local spatial scales, and particularly for ticks, transmitt...

In 1997, ticks removed from humans and received alive by the Tick-Borne Disease Laboratory of the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine (USACHPPM) were tested for pathogens by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thirty-three of 222 (15%) Amblyomma americanum (L.) DNAs produced amplicons of the expected size of Ehrlichia chaffeensis Anderson, Dawson & Wilson and 26/222 (12%)...

The present concept of the transmission of Lyme disease from Borrelia-infected Ixodes sp. ticks to the naïve host assumes that a low number of spirochetes that manage to penetrate the midgut epithelium migrate through the hemocoel to the salivary glands and subsequently infect the host with the aid of immunomodulatory compounds present in tick saliva. Therefore, humoral and/or cellular immune r...

The functional significance of some components of salivary glands and of their secretion and of haemolymph of Amblyomma hebraeum and other tick species is reviewed with respect to host responses at the attachment site, the survival of specific pathogens in the vector, the transmission of pathogens and immunological responses of the host to tick infestation.