Plasma borne viruses Cell associated viruses Effective antiviral agents are still not yet available * Hepatitis B and delta agent * Cytomnegalovirus to treat most viral infections, so the safety of * Hepatitis A (rarely) * Epstein-Barr virus (more than blood and blood components has to rely solely on * Non-A, non-B hepatitis (one 95% of adults are immune) "self exclusion" by potential donors wh...

establishment of a vector-borne disease. For example, tick-derived saliva factors appear to inhibit inflammatory cytokine secretion thus preventing efficient immune responses against tick-borne Rickettsia (4); a defined molecule in the saliva of the Aedes aegypti mosquito (SAAG-4) has the potential to alter the Th-profile of the bite-induced immune response likely rendering the host unable to e...

Although the majority of plant viruses are transmitted by arthropod vectors and invade the host plants through the aerial parts, there is a considerable number of plant viruses that infect roots via soil-inhabiting vectors such as plasmodiophorids, chytrids, and nematodes. These soil-borne viruses belong to diverse families, and many of them cause serious diseases in major crop plants. Thus, ro...

Characterizing the basic reproduction number, R(0), for many wildlife disease systems can seem a complex problem because several species are involved, because there are different epidemiological reactions to the infectious agent at different life-history stages, or because there are multiple transmission routes. Tick-borne diseases are an important example where all these complexities are broug...

An important epidemiological consequence of aggregated host-parasite associations occurs when parasites are vectors of pathogens. Those hosts that attract many vectors will tend to be the focus of transmission. But to what extent, and can we identify characteristics of these key hosts? We investigated these questions with respect to the host-tick relationship of the yellow-necked mouse, Apodemu...