AUTHOR=Mansfield Karen L. , Jizhou Lv , Phipps L. Paul , Johnson Nicholas 

TITLE=Emerging Tick-Borne Viruses in the Twenty-First Century

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2017

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2017.00298

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2017.00298

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=Ticks, as a group, are second only to mosquitos as vectors of pathogens to humans and are the primary vector for pathogens of livestock, companion animals and wildlife. The role of ticks in the transmission of viruses has been known for over one hundred years and yet new pathogenic viruses are still being detected and known viruses are continually spreading to new geographic locations continually. Partly as a result of their novelty, tick-virus interactions are at an early stage in understanding. For some viruses, even the principal tick-vector is not known. It is likely that tick-borne viruses will continue to emerge and challenge public and veterinary health long into the 21st century. However, studies focusing on tick saliva, a critical component of tick feeding, virus transmission and a target for control of ticks and tick-borne diseases, point towards solutions to emerging viruses. The aim of this review is to describe some currently emerging tick-borne diseases, their causative viruses, and also to discuss the reasons for their emergenceto discuss research on virus-tick interactions. Through focus on this area, future protein targets for intervention and vaccine development may be identified.