Tick With Its Chelicerae Sticking In Human Skin. Royalty-Free Stock Photography

Ticks are implicated in the transmission of a number of infections caused by pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Occasionally, the tick harbors more than one type of pathogen, making diagnosis of the infection more difficult. Species of the bacterial genus Rickettsia are responsible for typhus, rickettsialpox, boutonneuse fever, African tick bite fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Flinders Island spotted fever, and Queensland tick typhus Australian tick typhus.[72] Other tick-borne diseases include Lyme disease and Q fever, Colorado tick fever, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Bourbon virus, and tick-borne meningoencephalitis, as well as bovine anaplasmosis and the Heartland virus. In the United States, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the country.