Table 2.

Leading tick-borne pathogens within the United States and their vectors.

	Babesia microti	Anaplasma phagocytophilum	Borrelia burgdorferi	Borrelia miyamotoi	Borrelia mayonii	Ehrlichia chafeensis	Ehrlichia muris	Ehrlichia ewingii	Francisella tularensis	Rickettsia parkeri	Rickettsia rickettsii	Bourbon virus	Coltivirus	Heartland virus	Powassan virus
Type	Parasite	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Bacteria	Virus	Virus	Virus	Virus
Disease Name 1	Babesiosis	Anaplasmosis	Lyme Borreliosis	Relapsing Fever	Lyme borreliosis	Ehrlichiosis	Ehrlichiosis	Ehrlichiosis	Tularemia	R. parkeri spotted fever	Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever	Bourbon virus disease	Colorado Tick Fever	Heartland virus disease	Powassan virus disease
Discovery 1	1990 [63]	1932 [64]	1982	1995 [65]	2016 [66]	1986 [67]	2009 [68]	1996	1912 [69]	1937 [70]	1906	2014 [71]	1950 [72]	2012 [73]	1990 [74]
Reservoir 1	Small mammals: [55] Peromyscus leucopus, Procyon lotor, Blarina brevicauda, Tamias striatus	Peromyscus leucopus, Odocoileus virginianus	Peromyscus leucopus, Odocoileus virginianus, Tamias striatus, Blarina brevicauda, Sorex cinereus, Sciurus carolinensis, etc. [53]	Peromyscus leucopus, Apodemus spp., Microtus spp., Tamias spp., Sciuridae spp., etc. [75]	Peromyscus leucopus, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus [76]	Odocoileus virginianus	Peromyscus leucopus	Odocoileus virginianus	Rodents	Unknown					Deer
TickVector 1	I. scapularis	I. scapularis	I. scapularis	I. scapularis	I. pacificus	A. americanum	I. scapularis	A. americanum	A.Americanum, D. variabilis, D. andersonii	D. andersonii	D. variabilis, R. sanguineus, D. andersonii	A. americanum	D. andersonii	A. americanum	I. scapularis, I. cookei

¹ Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2022. In contrast, the lone star tick, A. americanum, is found only in select regions in North America. This arachnid has a notably aggressive feeding behavior towards prey during all life stages. It targets primarily large prey such as O. virginianus, but also domestic animals and humans. While doing so, it can transmit several tick-borne pathogens such as Ehrlichia ewingii and E. chaffeensis (Table 2) [67,77]. To date, this tick has not been documented as capable of transmitting Borrelial spirochetes and as such is not considered a Lb vector [78].