Detection of tick-borne pathogens in blood-fed ticks from animals across nine Asian countries

Abstract

Surveillance systems against novel tick-borne diseases are significant for global health. Climate and other environmental changes have contributed to an expanding range of ticks and tick-borne diseases. Areas in Asia constitute key areas of emerging infectious diseases. Through analysis of blood-fed ticks, collected from various animals living in the natural environment, we suggest that tick-borne pathogens may harbor animals and environment and have potential risk of transmission in humans. Understanding the distribution of tick-borne pathogens requires cooperative studying and, thus, can construct standardized surveillance systems.