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.
Highlights
Zoonotic diseases are a significant negative impact upon global public health that is increasing.Zoonotic diseases are defined as infections shared in nature between humans and other vertebrate animal species [1], characterized by transmission between species of organisms infecting humans that are enzootic in other animal species [2]
This review examines selected contemporary topics of tick and tick-borne disease epidemiology, tick biology, and tick-host-pathogen interactions that are of increasing importance for defining underlying factors, relationships, and mechanisms that are essential for the success of these important vectors and the infections they transmit
Due to the complex interactions of ticks, pathogens, reservoir hosts, and weather, any climate changes are likely to influence tick-borne zoonoses more than vector-borne infections that are directly transmitted between humans [26]
Summary
Zoonotic diseases are a significant negative impact upon global public health that is increasing. Greater than 60% of human infectious diseases emerging between 1940 and 2004 were zoonotic, resulting in significant global morbidity, mortality, and economic costs [4] Of those emerging zoonoses, 71.8% are from wildlife and 22.8% are arthropod vector-borne infections [4]. A research focus where advances are being achieved at an increasing pace is the characterization of tick saliva and its ability to modulate multiple host defenses differentially during blood feeding, resulting in successful acquisition of a blood meal and creation of environments favorable for pathogen transmission and establishment in the host [12,13,14,15,16] This area of study is an excellent example of the effective use of genetics, genomics, functional genomics, proteomics, and the application of a broad array of molecular biology tools to rapidly advance the understanding of complex pathways operating at the tick-host-pathogen interface. Long term objectives of these evolving areas of investigation are to add to the accumulating body of knowledge that will result in the development of effective disease prediction, prevention, and control interventions
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