Ornithodoros savignyi, the Tick Vector of “Candidatus Borrelia kalaharica” in Nigeria

The major tick salivary gland proteins and toxins from the soft tick, Ornithodoros savignyi, are part of the tick Lipocalin family: implications for the origins of tick toxicoses.

The origins of tick toxicoses remain a subject of controversy because no molecular data are yet available to study the evolution of tick-derived toxins. In this study we describe the molecular structure of toxins from the soft tick, Ornithodoros savignyi. The tick salivary gland proteins (TSGPs) are four highly abundant proteins proposed to play a role in salivary gland granule biogenesis of th...

"Candidatus Borrelia kalaharica" Detected from a Febrile Traveller Returning to Germany from Vacation in Southern Africa

A 26 year-old female patient presented to the Tropical Medicine outpatient unit of the Ludwig Maximilians-University in Munich with febrile illness after returning from Southern Africa, where she contracted a bite by a large mite-like arthropod, most likely a soft-tick. Spirochetes were detected in Giemsa stained blood smears and treatment was started with doxycycline for suspected tick-borne r...

Acquisition and subsequent transmission of Borrelia hermsii by the soft tick Ornithodoros hermsi.

Tick-borne relapsing fever is caused by spirochetes within the genus Borrelia. The hallmark of this disease is recurrent febrile episodes and high spirochete densities in mammalian blood resulting from immune evasion. Between episodes of spirochetemia when bacterial densities are low, it is unknown whether ticks can acquire the spirochetes, become colonized by the bacteria, and subsequently tra...

Anti-inflammatory properties of peptides derived from the carboxy-terminal region of a defensin from the tick Ornithodoros savignyi

Structural and functional characterization of peptides derived from the carboxy-terminal region of a defensin from the tick Ornithodoros savignyi.

Tick defensins may serve as templates for the development of multifunctional peptides. The purpose of this study was to evaluate shorter peptides derived from tick defensin isoform 2 (OsDef2) in terms of their antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities. We compared the structural and functional properties of a synthetic peptide derived from the carboxy-terminal of the parent peptide (...