VII International Potsdam Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases

Berlin, 13 – 14 March, 2003

Scientific Programme

Is the incidence of tick-borne iseases on the increase in Europe?

• Evidence that climate change has caused ‘emergence’ of tick-borne diseases in Europe? - Sarah E. Randolph
• Global climate change and the emergence/re-emergence of infectious diseases - Roland Zell
• Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in Europe - Franc Strle
• Vectors of tick-borne diseases and epidemiological situation in latvia in 1993–2002 - Antra Bormane, Irina Lucenko, Arnis Duks, Violeta Mavtchoutko, Renate Ranka, Kristine Salmina and Viesturs Baumanis
• A tick-borne encephalitis ceiling in Central Europe has moved upwards during the last 30 years: Possible impact of global warming - Petr Zeman and Cestmir Benes
• An attempt to elucidate the increased incidence of tick-borne encephalitis and its spread to higher altitudes in the Czech Republic - Milan Daniel, Vlasta Danielová, Bohumír Kríz and Ivan Kott
• Socio-economic conditions and other anthropogenic factors influencing tick-borne encephalitis incidence in the Czech Republic - B. Kriz, C. Benes, V. Danielová and M. Daniel
• Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Germany — Epidemiological data, development of risk areas and virus prevalence in field-collected ticks and in ticks removed from humans - Jochen Süss, Christina Schrader, Ulrich Falk and Nikolaus Wohanka
• Problems in the study and prophylaxis of mixed infections transmitted by ixodid ticks - Edward I. Korenberg
• Pathogens and symbionts in ticks: prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Ehrlichia sp.), Wolbachia sp., Rickettsia sp., and Babesia sp. in Southern Germany - Kathrin Hartelt, Rainer Oehme, Henning Frank, Stefan O. Brockmann, Dieter Hassler and Peter Kimmig
• Zoonotic Babesia: Possibly emerging pathogens to be considered for tick-infested humans in central Europe - K.-P. Hunfeld and V. Brade
• First report on the coexistence and compatibility of seven tickborne pathogens in unfed adult Ixodes persulcatus Schulze (Acarina: Ixodidae) - Andrey N. Alekseev, Helen V. Dubinina and Olga V. Jushkova

Epidemiology of tick-borne diseases

• Lyme borreliosis spirochetes in questing ticks from mainland Portugal - Susana Baptista, Ana Quaresma, Tânia Aires, Klaus Kurtenbach, Margarida Santos-Reis, Matthew Nicholson and Margarida Collares-Pereira
• Biodiversity in canine babesiae: molecular and epidemiological investigations

Ecology of tick-borne diseases

• Reservoir host identification by analysis of host-seeking ticks
• Geographical and seasonal variation in detecting Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in rodents of North East Austria
• Increased expression of Borrelia burgdorferi factor H-binding surface proteins during transmission from ticks to mice - Jennifer C. Miller and Brian Stevenson

Prophylaxis and vaccination

• Randomized, phase II, multicenter dose-finding studies of a modified tick-borne encephalitis vaccine in children: Evaluation of safety and immunogenicity of two vaccinations with FSME-IMMUN® - H.J. Ehrlich, A. Löw-Baselli, E.M. Poellabauer, S. Fritsch, I. Mai, B.G. Pavlova, F. Maritsch, F. Dorner, U. Behre, P.N. Barrett
• Safety and immunogenicity of FSME-IMMUN® ‘new’ vs. Encepur® in adults - A. Löw-Baselli, S. Fritsch, B.G. Pavlova, E.M. Poellabauer, P. Harmacek, M. Krammer, F. Dorner, R. Konior, P.N. Barrett, H.J. Ehrlich, IMMUN for the FSME-Adult Study Group
• Long-term immunity after vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis with Encepur® using the rapid vaccination schedule - Jiri Beran, Petr Douda, Dieter Gniel and Olaf Zent
• TBE booster immunization in adults — first experience with a new tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) vaccine, free of protein-derived stabilizer - Olaf Zent, Tino F. Schwarz, Annelie Plentz, Angelika Banzhoff and Wolfgang Jilg
• Stimulation of the immune system by different TBE-virus vaccines - Egon Marth, Barbara Kleinhappl and Sandra Jelovcan
• Decreasing tick-borne disease risk in the US by intervening in the natural cycle: lessons from the woods thus far - J. Tsao, B. Brei, D. Fish
• Lyme disease vaccine in the US and Europe: public and medial disputes discredit a well-founded and most successful protection strategy - R. Wallich, M. Simon
• State-of-the-art serological techniques for detection of antibodies against tick-borne encephalitis virus - Karen Sonnenberg, Matthias Niedrig, Katja Steinhagen, Edda Rohwäder, Wolfgang Meyer, Wolfgang Schlumberger, Ewald Müller-Kunert and Winfried Stöcker

Lyme borreliosis: immunology, diagnostics, and therapy; B. burgdorferi s. l. strain differentiation

• Immunological characterization of the complement regulator factor H-binding CRASP and Erp proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi - Peter Kraiczy, Kristina Hartmann, Jens Hellwage, Christine Skerka, Michael Kirschfink, Volker Brade, Peter F. Zipfel, Reinhard Wallich and Brian Stevenson
• Significant improvement of the recombinant Borrelia IgG immunoblot for serodiagnosis of early neuroborreliosis - Ulrike Schulte-Spechtel, Gisela Lehnert, Gaby Liegl, Volker Fingerle, Christiane Heimerl, Barbara Johnson and Bettina Wilske
• Disappearance of specific immune response after successful therapy of chronic Lyme borreliosis - Dieter Hassler, Matthias Schnauffer, Hans Ehrfeld and Elke Müller
• Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. OspA-types are widespread in Bavaria but show distinct local patterns - V. Fingerle, H. Michel, G. Hettche, C. Hizo-Teufel and B. Wilske
• The zoonotic reservoir of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the Mazury Lakes district of North-Eastern Poland - Agnieszka Pawelczyk, Maria Ogrzewalska, Iwona Zadrozna, and Edward Sinski
• Heterogeneity of the immunodominant surface protein VlsE among the three genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi pathogenic for human - Gereon Göttner, Ulrike Schulte-Spechtel and Bettina Wilske
• Serological description of Estonian patients with Lyme disease, a comparison with control sera from endemic and non-endemic areas - Kai E. Kisand, Meeme Utt, Kalle V. Kisand, Tiina Prükk and Raivo Uibo

Other topics

• Is leishmaniasis becoming endemic in Germany? - T.J. Naucke and C. Schmitt
• Test systems for tick repellents - Hans Dautel
• Closing remark - Jochen Süss