Advance in Tick and Tick-Borne Diseases Research

Dear Colleagues,

Ticks and tick-borne infectious agents are increasing global threats to the well-being of humans, companion animals, livestock, and wildlife. Increased abundance of ticks and their changing geographic ranges will impact the transmission patterns and incidence of tick-borne diseases of medical and veterinary importance. Among arthropod vectors, ticks transmit the greatest diversity of pathogens to humans and livestock. Wildlife are the origin species of tick-transmitted infections of companion animals and livestock, and the tick-borne zoonoses of humans. Key to protecting human and veterinary public health are increased understanding of pathogen enzootic cycles, tick population dynamics, control interventions, and both tick and pathogen biology and crosstalk that impact pathogen transmission and establishment. One Health and EcoHealth approaches to these problems hold promise for developing better tick and pathogen control.

This Special Issue focused on “Advances in Tick and Tick-Borne Diseases Research” aims to disseminate knowledge on the relationships of tick biology as related to viruses, rickettsiae, protozoans, and other infectious agents they transmit. An enhanced understanding in these areas is vital for combating tick infestation and tick-borne diseases, with diverse strategies ranging from tick population suppression to anti-tick and anti-pathogen vaccination topics of current research.  Topics may include emerging or resurging tick-borne zoonoses. Examples of themes that might be included are severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, Heartland and Bourbon viruses, Rickettsia parkeri, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis or Ehrlichia muris euclairensis, and an update of tick-borne encephalitis viruses or Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus. These reviews will  provide examinations of the enzootic cycles of these pathogens; tick ecology and biology of emerging and resurging tick-borne pathogens; tick–host–pathogen interactions that impact successful blood feeding and pathogen transmission; and the scope of established and emerging control strategies.

We welcome contributions from clinicians and scientists from around the world on these important issues in human and  veterinary medicine.

Dr. Tetsuya Tanaka
Prof. Dr. Stephen K. Wikel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Zoonotic Diseases is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.