| Jin Jong Seo | 1 Article |
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<b>Objectives</b>
<p>The importance of tick-borne diseases is increasing because of climate change, with a lack of long-term studies on tick-borne pathogens in South Korea. To understand the epidemiological characteristics of tick-borne diseases, the monthly distribution of field ticks throughout the year was studied in South Korea between May 2014 and April 2018 in a cross sectional study.</p></sec>
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<b>Methods</b>
<p>The presence of various tick-borne pathogens (<italic>Rickettsia</italic> species, <italic>Borrelia</italic> species, <italic>Anaplasma phagocytophilum</italic>) was confirmed by using polymerase chain reaction, to provide information for a prevention strategy against tick-borne pathogenic infections, through increased understanding of the relationship between seasonal variation and risk of infection with <italic>Rickettsia</italic> species. This was performed using logistic regression analysis (SPSS 20, IBM, USA) of the data obtained from the study.</p></sec>
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<b>Results</b>
<p>During the study period there were 11,717 ticks collected and 4 species identified. <italic>Haemapysalis longicornis</italic> was the most common species (<italic>n</italic> = 10,904, 93.1%), followed by <italic>Haemapysalis flava</italic> (<italic>n</italic> = 656, 5.6%), <italic>Ixodes nipponensis</italic> (<italic>n</italic> = 151, 1.3%), and <italic>Amblyomma testudinarium</italic> (<italic>n</italic> = 6, 0.05%) The results of this cross-sectional study showed that <italic>Haemapysalis flava</italic> carried a higher risk of transmission of <italic>Rickettsia</italic> species than other tick species (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05).</p></sec>
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<b>Conclusion</b>
<p>In conclusion, due attention should be paid to preventing tick-borne infections in humans whilst engaged in outdoor activities in Spring and Autumn, particularly in places where there is a high prevalence of ticks.</p></sec>
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