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An invasive mammal (the gray squirrel, sciurus carolinensis) commonly hosts diverse and atypical genotypes of the zoonotic pathogen borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato (2015)
Journal Article
Millins, C., Magierecka, A., Gilbert, L., Edoff, A., Brereton, A., Kilbride, E., …Biek, R. (2015). An invasive mammal (the gray squirrel, sciurus carolinensis) commonly hosts diverse and atypical genotypes of the zoonotic pathogen borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 81(13), 4236-4245. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00109-15

Invasive vertebrate species can act as hosts for endemic pathogens and may alter pathogen community composition and dynamics.
For the zoonotic pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the agent of Lyme borreliosis, recent work shows invasive rodent... Read More about An invasive mammal (the gray squirrel, sciurus carolinensis) commonly hosts diverse and atypical genotypes of the zoonotic pathogen borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato.

Oroya fever and verruga peruana: Bartonelloses unique to South America (2014)
Journal Article
Vinetz, J., Minnick, M., Anderson, B., Lima, A., Battisti, J., Lawyer, P., & Birtles, R. (2014). Oroya fever and verruga peruana: Bartonelloses unique to South America. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 8(7), e2919. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002919

Bartonella bacilliformis is the bacterial agent of Carrión's disease and is presumed to be transmitted between humans by phlebotomine sand flies. Carrión's disease is endemic to high-altitude valleys of the South American Andes, and the first reporte... Read More about Oroya fever and verruga peruana: Bartonelloses unique to South America.

An immunological marker of tolerance to infection in wild rodents (2014)
Journal Article
Jackson, J., Hall, A., Friberg, I., Ralli, C., Lowe, A., Zawadzka, M., …Begon, M. (2014). An immunological marker of tolerance to infection in wild rodents. PLoS Biology, 12(7), e1001901. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001901

Hosts are likely to respond to parasitic infections by a combination of resistance (expulsion of pathogens) and tolerance (active mitigation of pathology). Of these strategies, the basis of tolerance in animal hosts is relatively poorly understood, w... Read More about An immunological marker of tolerance to infection in wild rodents.

First report of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microtiin rodents in Finland (2014)
Journal Article
Kallio, E., Begon, M., Birtles, R., Bown, K., Koskela, E., Mappes, T., & Watts, P. (2014). First report of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microtiin rodents in Finland. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 14(6), 389-393. https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2013.1383

Tick-borne diseases pose an increasingly important public health problem in Europe. Rodents are the reservoir host for many tick-transmitted pathogens, including Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti, which can cause human granulocytic anapla... Read More about First report of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microtiin rodents in Finland.

Differential inflammatory responses of bovine foot skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes to digital dermatitis treponemes (2014)
Journal Article
Evans, N., Brown, J., Scholey, R., Murray, R., Birtles, R., Hart, C., & Carter, S. (2014). Differential inflammatory responses of bovine foot skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes to digital dermatitis treponemes. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology, 161(1-2), 12-20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetimm.2014.05.005

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is a serious infectious inflammatory lameness causing pain and suffering to many cattle worldwide and which has severe economic implications. This study set out to investigate relationships between the treponemes consi... Read More about Differential inflammatory responses of bovine foot skin fibroblasts and keratinocytes to digital dermatitis treponemes.

Mycobacterium microti Tuberculosis in its maintenance host, the field vole (Microtus agrestis) : characterization of the disease and possible routes of transmission (2013)
Journal Article
Kipar, A., Burthe, S., Hetzel, U., Rokia, M., Telfer, S., Lambin, X., …Bennett, M. (2014). Mycobacterium microti Tuberculosis in its maintenance host, the field vole (Microtus agrestis) : characterization of the disease and possible routes of transmission. Veterinary Pathology, 51(5), 903-914. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300985813513040

The field vole (Microtus agrestis) is a known maintenance host of Mycobacterium microti. Previous studies have shown that infected animals develop tuberculosis. However, the disease is also known in cats and is sporadically reported from humans and o... Read More about Mycobacterium microti Tuberculosis in its maintenance host, the field vole (Microtus agrestis) : characterization of the disease and possible routes of transmission.

Multilocus sequence typing of Bartonella henselae in the United Kingdom indicates that only a few, uncommon sequence types are associated with zoonotic disease (2011)
Journal Article
Chaloner, G., Harrison, T., Coyne, K., Aanensen, D., & Birtles, R. (2011). Multilocus sequence typing of Bartonella henselae in the United Kingdom indicates that only a few, uncommon sequence types are associated with zoonotic disease. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 49(6), 2132-2137. https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.00275-11

Bartonella henselae is one of the most common zoonotic agents acquired from companion animals (cats) in
industrialized countries. Nonetheless, although the prevalence of infections in cats is high, the number of
human cases reported is relatively l... Read More about Multilocus sequence typing of Bartonella henselae in the United Kingdom indicates that only a few, uncommon sequence types are associated with zoonotic disease.

The Common Shrew (Sorex araneus): A neglected host of tick-borne infections? (2011)
Journal Article
Bown, K., Lambin, X., Telford, G., Heyder-Bruckner, D., Ogden, N., & Birtles, R. (2011). The Common Shrew (Sorex araneus): A neglected host of tick-borne infections?. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, 11(7), 947-953. https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2010.0185

Although the importance of rodents as reservoirs for a number of tick-borne infections is well established,
comparatively little is known about the potential role of shrews, despite them occupying similar habitats. To
address this, blood and tick s... Read More about The Common Shrew (Sorex araneus): A neglected host of tick-borne infections?.

Multi-Locus sequence analysis reveals profound enetic diversity among isolates of the human athogen bartonella bacilliformis (2011)
Journal Article
Picardeau, M., Chaloner, G., Palmira Ventosilla, & Birtles, R. (2011). Multi-Locus sequence analysis reveals profound enetic diversity among isolates of the human athogen bartonella bacilliformis. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 5(7), e1248. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001248

Bartonella bacilliformis is the aetiological agent of human bartonellosis, a potentially life threatening infection of significant
public health concern in the Andean region of South America. Human bartonellosis has long been recognised in the regio... Read More about Multi-Locus sequence analysis reveals profound enetic diversity among isolates of the human athogen bartonella bacilliformis.

Species interactions in a parasite community drive infection risk in a wildlife population (2010)
Journal Article
Telfer, S., Lambin, X., Birtles, R., Beldomenico, P., Burthe, S., Paterson, S., & Begon, M. (2010). Species interactions in a parasite community drive infection risk in a wildlife population. Science, 330(6001), 243-246. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1190333

Most hosts, including humans, are simultaneously or sequentially infected with several parasites.
A key question is whether patterns of coinfection arise because infection by one parasite species
affects susceptibility to others or because of inher... Read More about Species interactions in a parasite community drive infection risk in a wildlife population.

Mycobacterium microti: More diverse than previously thought (2009)
Journal Article
Smith, N., Crawshaw, T., Parry, J., & Birtles, R. (2009). Mycobacterium microti: More diverse than previously thought. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 47(8), 2551-2559. https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.00638-09

Mycobacterium microti is a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex of bacteria. This species was
originally identified as a pathogen of small rodents and shrews and was associated with limited diversity and
a much reduced spoligotype patter... Read More about Mycobacterium microti: More diverse than previously thought.

Delineating anaplasma phagocytophilum ecotypes in coexisting, discrete enzootic cycles (2009)
Journal Article
Bown, K., Lambin, X., Ogden, N., Begon, M., Telford, G., Woldehiwet, Z., & Birtles, R. (2009). Delineating anaplasma phagocytophilum ecotypes in coexisting, discrete enzootic cycles. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 15(12), https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1512.090178

The emerging tick-borne pathogen Anaplasma phagocytophilum
is under increasing scrutiny for the existence of
subpopulations that are adapted to different natural cycles.
Here, we characterized the diversity of A. phagocytophilum
genotypes circula... Read More about Delineating anaplasma phagocytophilum ecotypes in coexisting, discrete enzootic cycles.

Relative importance of Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes trianguliceps as vectors for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti in field vole (Microtus agrestis) populations (2008)
Journal Article
Bown, K., Lambin, X., Telford, G., Ogden, N., Telfer, S., Woldehiwet, Z., & Birtles, R. (2008). Relative importance of Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes trianguliceps as vectors for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti in field vole (Microtus agrestis) populations. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74(23), 7118-7125. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00625-08

The importance of Ixodes ricinus in the transmission of tick-borne pathogens is well recognized in the United
Kingdom and across Europe. However, the role of coexisting Ixodes species, such as the widely distributed
species Ixodes trianguliceps, as... Read More about Relative importance of Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes trianguliceps as vectors for Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti in field vole (Microtus agrestis) populations.

Ecology of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and epidemiology of borrelial infections in Cumbria
Thesis
Hall, J. (in press). Ecology of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and epidemiology of borrelial infections in Cumbria. (Thesis). University of Salford

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) is the causative agent of the tick-borne zoonotic disease Lyme borreliosis (LB), of which around 2-3000 cases are reported annually in the UK. This project took a “One Health” approach to studying Borrelia burgd... Read More about Ecology of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and epidemiology of borrelial infections in Cumbria.

Badgers (Meles meles) as reservoirs of vector-borne infections in the UK
Thesis
Gbobaniyi, A. (in press). Badgers (Meles meles) as reservoirs of vector-borne infections in the UK. (Dissertation). University of Salford

In recent years, there has been an increased incidence and changing distribution of a number of vector-borne diseases, and the temperate regions are not an exception. Whilst Eurasian badgers (Meles meles) are known to host a wide range of pathogens,... Read More about Badgers (Meles meles) as reservoirs of vector-borne infections in the UK.