Laura Backus
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Focus on brown dog tick–transmitted Rocky Mountain spotted fever in dogs and people: shared threats and solutions Open
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) kills people and dogs in rural communities throughout the Americas and in urban epidemics in Brazil and Mexico. The companion Currents in One Health by Foley et al, AJVR , March 2025, addresses the urban…
A compartment and metapopulation model of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in southwestern United States and northern Mexico Open
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is a fatal tick-borne zoonotic disease that has emerged as an epidemic in western North America since the turn of the 21st century. Along the US south-western border and across northern Mexico, the brown…
The emergence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico requires a binational One Health approach Open
Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) is an international and quintessential One Health problem. This paper synthesizes recent knowledge in One Health, binational RMSF concerns, and veterinary and human medical perspectives to this fatal, re…
Roaming Dogs, Intense Brown Dog Tick Infestation, and Emerging Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Tijuana, México Open
A two decades–long epidemic of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in northern México reached the U.S. border city of Tijuana in 2021. Cases were near the city periphery in marginalized areas, some lacking infrastructure such as streets or utilit…
Tick-borne pathogens detected in sheltered dogs during an epidemic of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a One Health challenge Open
OBJECTIVE To assess exposure to and infection with 3 pathogens ( Rickettsia rickettsii, Anaplasma platys , and Ehrlichia canis ) vectored by brown dog ticks ( Rhipicephalus sanguineus ) in sheltered dogs at the western US–Mexico border. AN…
Host species and environment drivers of ectoparasite community of rodents in a Mojave Desert wetlands Open
Drivers of patterns of ectoparasitism in rodents in patchy Mojave Desert wetlands were investigated. A total of 1,571 ectoparasites in Mesostigmata, Trombidiformes, Siphonaptera and Ixodida were collected from 341 rodents ( Microtus califo…
Effect of Temperature on Host Preference in Two Lineages of the Brown Dog Tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus Open
Rhipicephalus sanguineus is a species complex of ticks that vector disease worldwide. Feeding primarily on dogs, members of the complex also feed incidentally on humans, potentially transmitting disease agents such as Rickettsia rickettsii…