A national crowdsourcing-based tick collection campaign was organized in 2015 with the objective of producing novel data on tick distribution and tick-borne pathogens in Finland. Nearly 20 000 Ixodes ticks were collected. The collected material revealed the nationwide distribution of I. persulcatus for the first time and a shift northwards in the distribution of I. ricinus in Finland. A subset ...

To date Borrelia lusitaniae is the only genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato isolated from Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in Portugal and Tunisia. This suggests that the genospecies diversity of B. burgdorferi sensu lato decreases toward the southwestern margin of its Old World subtropical range. In order to further explore the genetic diversity of B. burgdorferi sensu lato from this ...

Dining opportunities are rare for ticks. The notorious pests spend as much as 90% of their lives clambering around in leaf litter and only embark on epic expeditions to the tips of grass and leaves when they need to feed. Wrapping their limbs around slender smooth stalks of grass when they ascend, ticks must also grasp any passing opportunity to latch onto smooth skin or the hairy pelts of anim...

Lyme borreliosis is an emerging infectious human disease caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex of bacteria with reported cases increasing in many areas of Europe and North America. To understand the drivers of disease risk and the distribution of symptoms, which may improve mitigation and diagnostics, here we characterize the genetics, distribution, and environmental association...

We examined whether a reported northward expansion of the geographic distribution limit of the disease-transmitting tick Ixodes ricinus and an increased tick density between the early 1980s and mid-1990s in Sweden was related to climatic changes. The annual number of days with minimum temperatures above vital bioclimatic thresholds for the tick's life-cycle dynamics were related to tick density...

UNLABELLED Common European ticks, Ixodes ricinus, have been found in forest areas situated within the boundaries of big cities, and in areas changed by anthropogenic pressure. Monitoring I. ricinus, in the areas used by the public for recreation and leisure, makes it possible to assess the risk of infection with the diseases they transmit. The objective of this study was the comparison of the s...

It is shown experimentally that the option between developmental diapause and non-diapause development in nymphs of Ixodes scapularis Say, 1821 (Middle Atlantic population) is determined by photoperiodic conditions according to a two-step photoperiodic reaction of short-day long-day type. Diapause arrest of development is induced by an impact of either long day upon unfed nymphs, or short day u...

This study was performed in ticks collected with the flagging method from localities situated along Anatolian side of Istanbul to the Bulgarian border of Turkey which is under the effect of Black Sea climate. All ticks which were collected seasonally were screened for the presence of B. burgdorferi s.l. and Rickettsia spp. in pools. As a result, indicated agents were revealed to be common in ti...

This is the first reporting of the tick-borne zoonotic bacterium “Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis” in Denmark. A total of 2,625 Ixodes ricinus ticks from 58 locations in Denmark were collected and analysed for “Ca. Neoehrlichia mikurensis”. A nested PCR revealed the presence of the bacterium at three geographically separate locations, which indicates that it is widely established in ticks.