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Review
. 2020 Nov 30;8(12):1906.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8121906.

Expansion of Tick-Borne Rickettsioses in the World

Mariusz Piotrowski  1 , Anna Rymaszewska  1
Affiliations
Review

Expansion of Tick-Borne Rickettsioses in the World

Mariusz Piotrowski et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

Tick-borne rickettsioses are caused by obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the spotted fever group of the genus Rickettsia. These infections are among the oldest known diseases transmitted by vectors. In the last three decades there has been a rapid increase in the recognition of this disease complex. This unusual expansion of information was mainly caused by the development of molecular diagnostic techniques that have facilitated the identification of new and previously recognized rickettsiae. A lot of currently known bacteria of the genus Rickettsia have been considered nonpathogenic for years, and moreover, many new species have been identified with unknown pathogenicity. The genus Rickettsia is distributed all over the world. Many Rickettsia species are present on several continents. The geographical distribution of rickettsiae is related to their vectors. New cases of rickettsioses and new locations, where the presence of these bacteria is recognized, are still being identified. The variety and rapid evolution of the distribution and density of ticks and diseases which they transmit shows us the scale of the problem. This review article presents a comparison of the current understanding of the geographic distribution of pathogenic Rickettsia species to that of the beginning of the century.

Keywords: Rickettsiales; Tick-borne diseases; Tick-borne rickettsioses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The number of pathogenic species of bacteria belonging to the genus Rickettsia known in particular years. The first publication with description of the species was considered as the date.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The occurrence of pathogenic tick-borne species belonging to the genus Rickettsia in the world at the beginning of the 21st century compared to now. On the left—the state of knowledge in 2005. On the right—the state of knowledge in 2019 [1,4,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,33,35,36,38,39,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,56,98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122].
Figure 3
Figure 3
The usefulness of diagnostic methods in the course of tick-borne rickettsioses [124].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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