Biology and control of tick borne diseases in Europe

Among vector borne diseases, those transmitted by ticks (TBDs) are increasingly important for veterinary and human public health in the EU. The variability of ecological, climatic and socio-economical condition which characterize Europe, provide a wide heterogeneous set of condition affecting the risk of infection and determining which diseases are more likely to emerge and spread in certain areas rather than others. Within the framework of the EDENext project, significant progress have been made in investigating the biological, ecological and epidemiological components of tick borne diseases such as Anaplasmosis and CCHF through the combination of advanced molecular tools aimed at evaluating vector capacity under various environmental condition and mathematical models with the estimate of relevant parameters for the public health risk assessment. Furthermore, evaluation of the most appropriate control option have been started with field trials.