Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Challenges Posed By Tick-Borne Rickettsiae: Eco- Epidemiology And Public Health Implications, Marina E. Eremeeva, Gregory A. Dasch

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Rickettsiae are obligately intracellular bacteria that are transmitted to vertebrates by a variety of arthropod vectors, primarily by fleas and ticks. Once transmitted or experimentally inoculated into susceptible mammals, some rickettsiae may cause febrile illness of different morbidity and mortality, and which can manifest with different types of exhanthems in humans. However, most rickettsiae circulate in diverse sylvatic or peridomestic reservoirs without having obvious impacts on their vertebrate hosts or affecting humans. We have analyzed the key features of tick-borne maintenance of rickettsiae, which may provide a deeper basis for understanding those complex invertebrate interactions and strategies that have permitted …