title: Transmission of tick-borne pathogens between co-feeding ticks: Milan Labuda's enduring paradigm.
abstract: During the 1990s, Milan Labuda's experimental results established a new paradigm for the study of tick-borne viruses that has since been strengthened by its demonstrated effectiveness in explaining the epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). This brief review summarizes the essential features of the transmission of tick-borne pathogens such as TBE virus. Leukocytes migrate between tick feeding sites, bearing infective virions and providing a transport route for the virus between co-feeding ticks independent of a systemic viraemia. Such tick-borne pathogens are thus transmitted from tick to tick via vertebrates; the ticks are the reservoirs as well as the vectors, while the vertebrate is the transient bridge. The aim is to bring the related but non-synonymous terms (co-feeding and non-systemic) to the attention of workers who use simple PCR screening to identify additional vertebrate reservoir hosts of vector-borne pathogens that are not in fact maintained in nature through systemic transmission.
authors: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. sarah.randolph@zoo.ox.ac.uk
authors: Sarah E
authors: SE
authors: Randolph
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000821:virology; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000502:physiology*; D004675:Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000821:virology; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000150:complications / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000821:virology; D013987:Ticks / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000821:virology; D014771:Virion