We seek to describe the host-relationships of the vector tick, Ixodes dammini, and to determine how the abundance and variety of vertebrate hosts may affect the intensity of transmission of the agents of Lyme disease and rodent babesiosis. We shall determine: (1) how the abundance of particular reservoir hosts of the tick-borne spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi and the piroplasm, Babesia microti, relates to the intensity of transmission; (2) whether the abundance of certain verebrate hosts may largely regulate the abundance of the vector tick, Ixodes dammini; and (3) whether the presence of other vertebrate hosts may limit the geographical distribution of this tick. In addition, we shall (4) identify non-host factors that may affect geographical diversity in the transmission of these infections, including parasitization by a chalcid wasp, interaction with other ticks and the presence of genetic diversiy within I. dammini. We shall monitor the course of human infection and disease in sites where these zoonoses affect human health. We hope to build on these observations in order to identify the main factors influencing the force of transmission of these agents of human disease and, ultimately, devise means for protecting human health. This work may generate concepts applicable to an understanding of the transmission dynamics of vector-borne infections in general.
| Goethert, Heidi K; Telford 3rd, Sam R (2014) Not ""out of Nantucket"": Babesia microti in southern New England comprises at least two major populations. Parasit Vectors 7:546 |
| Krause, Peter J; Foley, Daniel T; Burke, Georgine S et al. (2006) Reinfection and relapse in early Lyme disease. Am J Trop Med Hyg 75:1090-4 |
| Burke, Georgine; Wikel, Stephen K; Spielman, Andrew et al. (2005) Hypersensitivity to ticks and Lyme disease risk. Emerg Infect Dis 11:36-41 |
| Krause, Peter J; McKay, Kathleen; Gadbaw, Joseph et al. (2003) Increasing health burden of human babesiosis in endemic sites. Am J Trop Med Hyg 68:431-6 |
| Krause, Peter J; McKay, Kathleen; Thompson, Charles A et al. (2002) Disease-specific diagnosis of coinfecting tickborne zoonoses: babesiosis, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis 34:1184-91 |
| Kiszewski, Anthony E; Spielman, Andrew (2002) Preprandial inhibition of re-mating in Ixodes ticks (Acari: Ixodidae). J Med Entomol 39:847-53 |
| Telford 3rd, S R; Korenberg, E I; Goethert, H K et al. (2002) [Detection of natural foci of babesiosis and granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Russia] Zh Mikrobiol Epidemiol Immunobiol :21-5 |
| Rich, S M; Armstrong, P M; Smith, R D et al. (2001) Lone star tick-infecting borreliae are most closely related to the agent of bovine borreliosis. J Clin Microbiol 39:494-7 |
| Kiszewski, A E; Matuschka, F R; Spielman, A (2001) Mating strategies and spermiogenesis in ixodid ticks. Annu Rev Entomol 46:167-82 |
| Armstrong, P M; Brunet, L R; Spielman, A et al. (2001) Risk of Lyme disease: perceptions of residents of a Lone Star tick-infested community. Bull World Health Organ 79:916-25 |
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