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Klin Lab Diagn 2021 Jun;66(6):353-357

State Research Center of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Tularemia is an especially dangerous infection caused by the gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis. It belongs to natural focal infections, and therefore is under continuous control by quarantine services. When carrying out their activities they use a whole range of diagnostic tools. Read More

Medicina (Kaunas) 2021 May 5;57(5). Epub 2021 May 5.

Center of Infectious Diseases, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, 08410 Vilnius, Lithuania.

We present a case of tularemia complicated by rhabdomyolysis in a 43-year-old male who presented with fever, swelling, and pain of the right groin and a history of a week-old tick bite. Empirical parenteral amoxicillin/clavulanic acid treatment was initiated. Suspecting tularemia, parenteral gentamycin was added. Read More

N Engl J Med 2021 Apr;384(14):1349

University of Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland.

Insects 2021 Mar 5;12(3). Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.

Ticks rank high among arthropod vectors in terms of numbers of infectious agents that they transmit to humans, including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, human monocytic ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and human granulocytic anaplasmosis. Increasing temperature is suspected to affect tick biting rates and pathogen developmental rates, thereby potentially increasing risk for disease incidence. Tick distributions respond to climate change, but how their geographic ranges will shift in future decades and how those shifts may translate into changes in disease incidence remain unclear. Read More

BMC Infect Dis 2021 Mar 31;21(1):310. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

National Reference laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.

Background: Recent seroepidemiological studies have suggested that tularemia could be an endemic bacterial zoonosis in Iran.

Methods: From January 2016 to June 2018, disease cases characterized by fever, cervical lymphadenopathy and ocular involvement were reported in Youzband Village of Kaleybar County, in the East Azerbaijan Province, northwestern Iran. Diagnostic tests included Francisella tularensis serology (including tube agglutination test and ELISA), PCR, and culture. Read More

Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2021 07 15;12(4):101711. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Daejeon Metropolitan City Institute of Health and Environment, 407 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34142, Republic of Korea.

Ticks (Ixodidae, also known as hard ticks) as principal vectors of zoonotic diseases such as severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), Lyme borreliosis, relapsing fever, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, coxiellosis (Q fever), and tularemia pose a major public health threat. This study was conducted to identify the distribution profile of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in Daejeon and the adjacent areas in South Korea, where no such epidemiological study has been conducted. From April to October 2019, 16,765 ticks were collected from three genera and four species: Haemaphysalis longicornis (n = 14,949; 89. Read More

Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2021 05 18;65(6). Epub 2021 May 18.

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, Salisbury, United Kingdom

Infection with aerosolized or can lead to lethal disease in humans if treatment is not initiated promptly. Finafloxacin is a novel fluoroquinolone which has demonstrated broad-spectrum activity against a range of bacterial species , and in humans, activity which is superior in acidic, infection-relevant conditions. Human-equivalent doses of finafloxacin or ciprofloxacin were delivered at 24 h (representing prophylaxis) or at 72 or 38 h (representing treatment) postchallenge with or , respectively, in BALB/c mouse models. Read More

J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2021 Feb;31(2):193-196

Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey.

Objective:  To determine the factors associated with cervical lymph node suppuration in oropharyngeal tularemia.

Study Design: Observational study.

Place And Duration Of Study:  Departments of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Faculties of Medicine, Duzce University and Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University Turkey, between January 2016 and August 2019. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020 22;10:581864. Epub 2021 Jan 22.

Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi, Japan.

, the causative agent of tularemia, is transmitted by arthropod vectors within mammalian hosts. The detailed mechanisms contributing to growth and survival of within arthropod remain poorly understood. To identify novel factors supporting growth and survival of within arthropods, a transposon mutant library of subsp. Read More

J Proteome Res 2021 03 5;20(3):1716-1732. Epub 2021 Feb 5.

Faculty of Military Health Sciences, Department of Molecular Pathology and Biology, University of Defence, Hradec Kralove 500 01, Czech Republic.

Release of outer membrane vesicles (OMV) is an important phenomenon in Gram-negative bacteria playing multiple roles in their lifestyle, including in relation to virulence and host-pathogen interaction. , unlike other bacteria, releases unusually shaped, tubular OMV. We present a proteomic comparison of OMV and membrane fractions from two strains: moderately virulent subsp. Read More

Future Microbiol 2021 Jan;16:51-69

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging & Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.

Vector-borne diseases have become a global health concern in recent decades as a result of global warming, globalization, growth in international trade and travel, use of insecticide and drug resistance. This review study addressed the key vector-borne diseases and their current status in Iran to emphasize the requirements for further research on vector-borne diseases. The dispersion patterns of these diseases differ in various regions. Read More

Appl Environ Microbiol 2021 02 26;87(6). Epub 2021 Feb 26.

Division of CBRN Defence and Security, Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI, Umeå, Sweden

, the causative agent of the zoonotic disease tularemia, can cause seasonal outbreaks of acute febrile illness in humans with disease peaks in late summer to autumn. Interestingly, its mechanisms for environmental persistence between outbreaks are poorly understood. One hypothesis is that forms biofilms in aquatic environments. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020 10;10:594063. Epub 2020 Dec 10.

Department of Clinical Microbiology and Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

is a Select Agent that causes the severe disease tularemia in humans and many animal species. The bacterium demonstrates rapid intracellular replication, however, macrophages can control its replication if primed and activation with IFN-γ is known to be essential, although alone not sufficient, to mediate such control. To further investigate the mechanisms that control intracellular replication, an co-culture system was utilized containing splenocytes obtained from naïve or immunized C57BL/6 mice as effectors and infected bone marrow-derived wild-type or chromosome-3-deficient guanylate-binding protein (GBP)-deficient macrophages. Read More

Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 2021 Feb 25;74:101598. Epub 2020 Nov 25.

National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar-Ahang, Hamadan, Iran; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging infectious diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease that transmitted to humans and domestic animals by wildlife, especially rodents. There are some evidences of the circulation of F. tularensis in rodents, livestock, human populations, and surface waters in western parts of Iran. Read More

Eur J Pharm Sci 2021 Mar 22;158:105651. Epub 2020 Nov 22.

Biotechnology Division, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior 474002, India. Electronic address:

Tularemia, a zoonosis generally prevalent in the northern half of the globe, is caused by Francisella tularensis. Among various Francisella tularensis species, subspecies tularensis is the most pathogenic to humans causing the infection through an airborne route, abrasions in the skin, and contact with infected animals. At present no approved vaccine exists for this intracellular pathogen. Read More

J Vector Ecol 2020 12;45(2):321-332

Biology Department, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, 99258.

Due to climate change-induced alterations of temperature and humidity, the distribution of pathogen-carrying organisms such as ticks may shift. Tick survival is often limited by environmental factors such as dryness, but a predicted hotter and wetter world may allow the expansion of tick ranges. Dermacentor andersoni and D. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2020 26;10:512090. Epub 2020 Oct 26.

Centre National de Référence Francisella tularensis, Laboratoire de Bactériologie, Institut de Biologie et de Pathologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France.

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium . The predominant sources, routes of infection, and clinical manifestations of human infections greatly vary according to the geographic area considered. Moreover, clinical suspicion of tularemia is often tricky because of the lack of specificity of the clinical manifestations. Read More

Health Secur 2021 Jan-Feb;19(1):108-115. Epub 2020 Nov 6.

Oghenekaro Omodior, PhD, is an Assistant Professor, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

The purpose of this study was to identify age group, gender, rural-urban differences, and spatiotemporal clusters of tickborne disease diagnoses in Indiana. We analyzed retrospective surveillance data for Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typhus/rickettsial diseases, and tularemia diagnosed in Indiana from 2009 to 2016. We used chi-square cross tabulation to test gender, age group, and county classification (rural, rural-mixed, urban) differences in tickborne disease. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020 10 30;17(21). Epub 2020 Oct 30.

Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia.

In Russia, as in other countries, the problem of emerging natural focal infectious diseases (EIDs) became more acute toward the end of the 20th century. However, the situation in Russia is unknown to foreign readers, while the prevention and control of these diseases require international collaboration. The aim of the study is to provide a medical-geographical assessment of the distribution of the main natural focal EIDs in Russia, as well as to present the approaches used in the country to create aggregate maps of risk assessment. Read More

J Clin Microbiol 2020 12 17;59(1). Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Centre National de Référence des Francisella, Institut de Biologie et de Pathologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France

Rapid and reliable detection and identification of (a tier 1 select agent) are of primary interest for both medical and biological threat surveillance purposes. The Biotoxis qPCR detection kit is a real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay designed for the detection of , , and in environmental or biological samples. Here, we evaluated its performance for detecting in comparison to previously validated qPCR assays. Read More

Microorganisms 2020 Oct 23;8(11). Epub 2020 Oct 23.

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, OH 43614, USA.

Over 600,000 vector-borne disease cases were reported in the United States (U.S.) in the past 13 years, of which more than three-quarters were tick-borne diseases. Read More

Pediatr Infect Dis J 2020 12;39(12):e435-e438

Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Lucerne Children's Hospital, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Lucerne, Switzerland.

Ugeskr Laeger 2020 08;182(36)

Tularaemia (rabbit fever) is a rare infection caused by Francisella tularensis, which can be transmitted from hares and rats to humans by ticks. We present two case reports of patients with tularaemia. Both were initially referred on suspicion of cancer. Read More

Ugeskr Laeger 2020 09;182(37)

Kleine-Levin syndrome (KLS) is a rare disease characterised by recurrent hypersomnia combined with behavioural and cognitive disturbances. We present a case report of a 15-year-old Danish boy with a severe case of KLS, who suffered frequent episodes especially in the beginning of the disease course. The boy presented with somnolence, speech latency, hallucinations and confusion. Read More

J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open 2020 Jun 10;1(3):238-241. Epub 2020 Apr 10.

Department of Internal Medicine St. Anthony North Health Campus Centura Health Network Westminster Colorado.

Tularemia is a rare zoonotic disease caused by . It can often present with varied clinical presentations, but meningitis is extremely rare. In this case study, we describe a patient who presented to our emergency department with a Tularemic infection coupled with acute atypical meningitis, after he was exposed to aerosolized rabbit hair from lawn mowing. Read More

Ticks Tick Borne Dis 2020 11 1;11(6):101500. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran; National Reference Laboratory for Plague, Tularemia and Q Fever, Research Centre for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Akanlu, Kabudar Ahang, Hamadan, Iran.

The Caspian Sea littoral of Iran is home to various hard tick species, including Ixodes ricinus, the notorious vector of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in Eurasia. Here, in this area, we examined I. ricinus and other hard ticks, along with common rodents and small mammals for LB and relapsing fever (RF) borreliae infection. Read More

Vnitr Lek 2020 ;66(4):232-235

While investigating patients with gastrointestinal (GI) and/or hepatic symptoms, tickborne diseases are only rarely considered to be the cause. However, the Czech Republic is an endemic region for several of tickborne diseases and, therefore, they should be a part of differential diagnosis of GI symptoms of unknown origin. This article describes GI and hepatic symptoms of several tickborne diseases - Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, Rocky mountain spotted fever, tularemia, Colorado tick fever, tickborne relapsing fever, Q fever and babesiosis. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020 09 17;17(18). Epub 2020 Sep 17.

Department of Physical Geography, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

Hydroclimatic change may affect the range of some infectious diseases, including tularemia. Previous studies have investigated associations between tularemia incidence and climate variables, with some also establishing quantitative statistical disease models based on historical data, but studies considering future climate projections are scarce. This study has used and combined hydro-climatic projection outputs from multiple global climate models (GCMs) in phase six of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), and site-specific, parameterized statistical tularemia models, which all imply some type of power-law scaling with preceding-year tularemia cases, to assess possible future trends in disease outbreaks for six counties across Sweden, known to include tularemia high-risk areas. Read More

J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2021 Mar 25;79(3):629-636. Epub 2020 Aug 25.

Head of Department, Department of Oral, Craniomaxillofacial and Facial Plastic Surgery, Leipzig University Hospital, Leipzig, Germany.

A 60-year-old man was admitted to a university hospital complaining of progressive orbital cellulitis and lymph-node swelling. Empiric treatment with sulbactam/ampicillin failed. The patient's cervical lymph nodes were removed and histologically examined. Read More

Open Forum Infect Dis 2020 Sep 17;7(9):ofaa363. Epub 2020 Aug 17.

National Public Health Centre (NPHC), National Reference Center for Bacterial Zoonotic Diseases, Budapest, Hungary.

We report on an unusual case of oculoglandular tularemia acquired after crushing a tick removed from a dog. As a droplet sprayed into the patient's eye the eyelids became inflamed, and on the fourth day, a high fever started. Prompt antibiotic treatment prevented serious complication. Read More