Ticks and Tick-Borne Infections: Complex Ecology, Agents, and Host Interactions

Overview

Journal Vet Sci

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Veterinary Medicine

Date 2018 Jun 22

PMID 29925800

Citations 74

Authors

Stephen K Wikel

Affiliations

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Abstract

Ticks transmit the most diverse array of infectious agents of any arthropod vector. Both ticks and the microbes they transmit are recognized as significant threats to human and veterinary public health. This article examines the potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of ticks and the infections they transmit; the emergence of novel tick-borne pathogens, increasing geographic range and incidence of tick-borne infections; and advances in the characterization of tick saliva mediated modulation of host defenses and the implications of those interactions for transmission, establishment, and control of tick infestation and tick-borne infectious agents.

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