Borrelia microtti and Borrelia persica are two Iranian strains of spirochetes whose vectors are Ornithodorous tholozani and Ornithodorous erraticus which are responsible for relapsing fever. BSK medium has been used for in vitro culture of other strains of borrelia, although the two mentioned strains could not be successfully cultured in it. We have modified BSK medium by using guinea pig ...

The saliva of ticks contains anti-haemostatic, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory molecules that allow these parasites to obtain a blood meal from the host and help tick-borne pathogens to infect the vertebrate host more efficiently. This makes the salivary molecules attractive targets to control ticks and tick-borne pathogens. Although Ornithodoros moubata and O. erraticus are important ar...

The 65th Medical Brigade and Public Health Command District-Korea, in collaboration with the Migratory Bird Research Center, National Park Research Institute, conducted migratory bird tick surveillance at Sogugul and Gaerin Islands (small rocky bird nesting sites), Jeollanam-do (Province), Republic of Korea (ROK), on 30 July and 1 August 2009. Breeding seabirds captured by hands in their nestin...

There have been no reports of the endemic Ornithodoros brasiliensis (Aragão) in Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, since the 1950s. In January 2007, 21 O. brasiliensis ticks were collected in a rural area named "Cruzinha" in the municipality of São Francisco de Paula, RS, and another population was sampled later that year (October) in Vargem do Cedro, another rural area of São Francisco de Pau...

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare multisystem disease. We describe the presentation and treatment of a patient with relapsing polychondritis and review the literature. This patient had involvement of the tracheobronchial tree requiring insertion of metallic stents.

Relapsing polychondritis is a rare inflammatory disorder of cartilage with well-established clinical features and imaging characteristics. Abnormal calcification and erosion of cartilaginous structures are the traditional radiographic findings. As with any disease, aberrancies of the expected clinical presentation may lead to a delayed (or missed) diagnosis. We discuss a rare case of relapsing ...

Ornithodoros (Alectorobius) capensis Neumann, an ectoparasite of seabirds found circumglobally in the tropics and subtropics, has become established along the southeastern seacoast of the United States. The tick has been found feeding primarily on brown pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis, but also has been found on the laughing gull, Larus atricilla, and the American oystercatcher, Haematopus pal...

The family Rickettsiaceae currently includes two genera: Orientia that contains one species, Orientia tsutsugamushi, and Rickettsia that contains 28 species. Occidentia massiliensis gen. nov., sp. nov. strain OS118(T) is the type strain of O. massiliensis gen. nov., sp. nov., the type species of the new genus Occidentia gen. nov. within the family Rickettsiaceae. This strain, whose genome is de...