On June 27th and 28th the "2nd Workshop on Tick-Borne Diseases 2013" took place at the TMF in Berlin, an event organized by the National Reference Laboratory for Q-fever of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute in cooperation with the National Research Platform for Zoonoses. The workshop was attended by 30 tick researchers* from Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Moldova. The 17 specialized lectures dealt with topics concerning the ecosystem, such as the distribution of tick-borne diseases in rodents of different habitats or the transport of ticks over long distances with the help of birds. Other presentations dealt with molecular biological topics, the interactions between the tick and the pathogens it transmits, and the immune system of ticks. A new pathogen species, Ehrlichia minerensis, was reported and studies on the spread of the Q-fever pathogen, Coxiella burnetii, were presented. The virus of early summer meningoencephalitis (TBE) was another main topic.
The participants praised the quality of the lectures, the good organisation and especially the pleasant atmosphere of the workshop. Contact details were exchanged and the possibility of cooperation was discussed. As a result of these discussions, researchers from several institutions met in Jena at the end of August to prepare a joint research proposal. Furthermore, a Czech colleague, Dr. Miray Tonk, will be part of the organization team in the future. Since events abroad are also planned, the workshop will be called "International Workshop on Tick-Borne Diseases" in the future.
The next workshop will take place in September 2014 in Berlin in cooperation with the Federal Environmental Agency, Dr. Habedank.
