A Clear and Present Danger: Tick-borne Diseases in Europe

*Previously known as DnS14, DnS28 and RpA4.^[243]
‡Closely related to 'the cadiz agent' and IRS3 and IRS4.
Geographic distributions of tick-borne rickettsiae can be found elsewhere.^{[107,114,244]}
D.: Dermacentor; H.: Hyalomma; I.: Ixodes; R.: Rickettsia; Rh.: Rhipicephalus; Tibola/Debonel: Tick-borne lymphadenopathy/Dermacentor-borne necrosis erythema lymphadenopathy.

*According to ^[18], classified as subspecies of Rhipicephalus.

Authors and Disclosures

Paul Heyman^†
Research Laboratory for Vector Borne Diseases, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Bruynstraat 1, B-1120 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: +32 2264 4044, Fax: +32 2264 4078, paul.heyman@mil.be

Christel Cochez
Research Laboratory for Vector Borne Diseases, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Belgium

Agnetha Hofhuis
National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Joke van der Giessen
National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Hein Sprong
National Institute for Public Health and Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Sarah Rebecca Porter
Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

Bertrand Losson
Laboratory of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

Claude Saegerman
Research Unit in Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Applied to Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

Oliver Donoso-Mantke
Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany

Matthias Niedrig
Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany

Anna Papa
Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

^†Author for correspondence
Research Laboratory for Vector Borne Diseases, Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Bruynstraat 1, B-1120 Brussels, Belgium. Tel.: +32 2264 4044, Fax: +32 2264 4078, paul.heyman@mil.be

Sidebar

Key Issues

• An increase in the number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and rickettsioses has been observed.

• Interactions between ticks, their habitat, hosts and reservoir animals is still poorly understood.

• Concerted, international by preference, action is needed to monitor and control ticks and tick-transmitted pathogens.