Tick-Borne Diseases and Zoonotic Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Ticks and the infections that they spread have been with us since ancient times. However, it was the discovery of Lyme borreliosis and its pathogen that sparked scientific and popular interest in this research field. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection, and its study led to the recognition of further infections transmitted by ticks. Lyme disease is a benign infection, often self-resolving, yet in some cases, it can be milder or more severe, with difficult-to-objectify symptoms developing after recovery (fatigue, joint and muscle pain, limb numbness, muscle weakness, brain fog, memory impairment). This constellation of symptoms is called chronic Lyme disease or post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). In this Special Issue, we will answer the following questions: What underlies this condition? How common are the co-infections frequently mentioned by Lyme foundations? What are their symptoms? Does Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. cause disease in animals? Numerous reports claim that ticks are increasing in number and spreading more infections: how reliable are these data? Are these data not just the result of the acceleration of tick migration due to climate change and new information about the increasing populations of ticks being published, while data on decreasing tick populations in certain regions have not been published since they are less shocking?

Infectious diseases have changed. We have identified newer and newer infectious diseases in recent years, including many newly emerging infections that have caused pandemics. While previously only a few epidemic diseases needed to be known by practicing physicians, today the number of important infections is infinite. Most new or newly recognized infections are zoonoses. Publications that organize our knowledge in this field are immensely important, as they improve everyday medical practice in both clinical and laboratory diagnostics contexts.

Dr. Andras Lakos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• tick
• tick-borne diseases
• Lyme disease
• Lyme borreliosis
• chronic Lyme disease
• post-treatment Lyme disease
• Borrelia burgdorferi
• epidemiology
• zoonosis