Infectious Diseases and HIV Conference

Tick-borne diseases are those bacterial, viral, and protozoa diseases transmitted by a tick. These include Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis.

In this lecture, I'll introduce you to the biology of the tick, the pathogen, and the diseases within a geographic distribution. I'll present symptoms and complications associated with tick-borne illnesses. The spread of tick-borne infections is from emerging threatening phenomena, changing environmental conditions and human-tick interactions.

The session will primarily focus on the issue of emerging threats, including the expansion of tick populations into novel geographic areas and new tick-borne pathogens. The participants will gain insights better than earlier in public health implications arising from trends and value surveillance in the detection of outbreaks as well as response. Management of tick-borne infections should be timely in relation to diagnosis and treatment.

The challenges to diagnosis will be mainly explored from the limits of serological tests, up to dependence on good clinical suspicion that includes some history and exposure in the patients. This will be complemented by the information participants will gather regarding current guidelines on treatment, from antibiotic use in bacterial infections to supportive care in viral infections. Preventive measures against tick-borne diseases are multidisciplinary. Such a measure of prevention through personal protection, public health campaigns, and controlling the vector will be discussed during this session.

This session will also mention community involvement in creating awareness and subsequently reducing the chances of tick bites.

The final session would conclude with a discussion, as well as future research directions on tick-borne infections, in vaccine development, as well as control of vectors using innovative strategies.

During the course, learners are sensitized towards public health policy, and more so, to tick-borne diseases, making it likely for health care providers to collaborate with researchers and community-based organizations.