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Update on Tick-Borne Bacterial Diseases in Travelers

  • Tropical, Travel and Emerging Infections (L Chen and A Boggild, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Infectious Disease Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Ticks are the second most important vectors of infectious diseases after mosquitoes worldwide. The growth of international tourism including in rural and remote places increasingly exposes travelers to tick bite. Our aim was to review the main tick-borne infectious diseases reported in travelers in the past 5 years.

Recent Findings

In recent years, tick-borne bacterial diseases have emerged in travelers including spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsioses, borrelioses, and diseases caused by bacteria of the Anaplasmataceae family.

Summary

African tick-bite fever, due to Rickettsia africae, is the most frequent agent reported in travelers returned from Sub-Saharan areas. Other SFG agents are increasingly reported in travelers, and clinicians should be aware of them. Lyme disease can be misdiagnosed in Southern countries. Organisms causing tick-borne relapsing fever are neglected pathogens worldwide, and reports in travelers have allowed the description of new species. Infections due to Anaplasmataceae bacteria are more rarely described in travelers, but a new species of Neoehrlichia has recently been detected in a traveler. The treatment of these infections relies on doxycycline, and travelers should be informed before the trip about prevention measures against tick bites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aix Marseille University, IRD, AP-HM, SSA, Vecteurs-Infections Tropicales et Méditerranéennes (VITROME), IHU-Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13005, Marseille, France

    Carole Eldin & Philippe Parola

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  1. Carole Eldin
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Correspondence to Carole Eldin.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Tropical, Travel and Emerging Infections

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Eldin, C., Parola, P. Update on Tick-Borne Bacterial Diseases in Travelers. Curr Infect Dis Rep 20, 17 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-018-0624-y

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