Conducting Tick-Borne Disease Research in Texas with a Focus on Rickettsia spp.

• Main Author: Huddleston, Jody Sue
• Other Authors: Oppong, Joseph R.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: University of North Texas 2020
• Subjects: tick-borne disease; Rickettsia spp.; species distribution maps; ecological niche modeling; Maxent; tick sampling; Amblyomma americanum; Rickettsia amblyommatis; Next-generation sequencing
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703370/

The field of vector-borne disease research uses multidisciplinary approaches to help understand complicated interactions. This dissertation, covers three different aspects of tick-borne disease research which all focus on exploring tick-borne diseases in the non-endemic areas of Denton, County Texas and the state of Texas with a focus on Rickettsia spp. These aspects include tick sampling, testing ticks for the presence of Rickettsia spp., and creating species distribution maps of the Rickettsia spp. Rickettsia amblyommatis and tick species Amblyomma americanum.