Travel and tick-borne diseases: Lyme disease and beyond

On a global scale, ticks are second only to mosquitoes as the most important of vectors of infectious disease agents of humans [1]. Ticks transmit a greater diversity of viral, bacterial and protozoan infections than any other arthropod on earth, and in many temperate regions of the world, including Europe and the United States, tick-borne diseases (TBD) are the most widespread and medically important of all vector-borne infections. Lyme borreliosis, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species and transmitted by various Ixodes spp., afflicts tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of persons in the Northern Hemisphere each year and has brought the subject of TBD to general attention more than any other associated infection.
Source: Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research