A serological assay to detect and differentiate rodent exposure to soft tick and hard tick relapsing fever infections in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Human cases of relapsing fever (RF) in North America are caused primarily by Borrelia hermsii and Borrelia turicatae, which are spread by argasid (soft) ticks, and by Borrelia miyamotoi, which is transmitted by ixodid (hard) ticks. In some regions of the United States, the ranges of the hard and soft tick RF species are known to overlap; in many areas, recorded ranges of RF spirochetes overlap with Lyme disease (LD) group Borrelia spirochetes. Identification of RF clusters or cases detected in unusual geographic localities might prompt public health agencies to investigate environmental exposures, enabling prevention of additional cases through locally targeted mitigation. However, exposure risks and mitigation strategies differ among hard and soft tick RF, prompting a need for additional

SUBMITTER: Parise CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10956445 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature