Tick-borne diseases (TBD) including Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis (SFGR), ehrlichiosis, and increasingly Lyme disease, represent a substantial public health concern throughout much of the Southeastern United States. North Carolina experiences some of the highest rates of SFGR and ehrlichiosis in the United States, often accounting for more than of 10% and 5% of cases reported to the CDC, respectively. Yet timely and accurate surveillance is limited by both the nature of reporting and the limitations of existing diagnostic methods.
The cross-sectional study “Testing for tick-borne diseases and implications for surveillance in the Southeastern USA,” published in JAMA Network Open, highlights important issues in vector-borne disease at the intersection of public health, diagnostics and clinical practice.
Read more from the UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases.