Veterinary care and flea preventatives are limited in homeless shelters and outreach organizations serving people experiencing homelessness.

Objective: Pet ownership among people experiencing homelessness (PEH) is common, but access to shelter, veterinary care, and flea-preventative products for PEH who own pets in the US is not well described. We sought to evaluate current knowledge of fleas and flea-borne diseases and characterize practices around pets and service animals among staff at homeless shelters and outreach organizations.

Methods: In-person surveys were administered to staff at homeless shelters and on outreach teams in 7 states from August 2022 to April 2023 to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices and to assess homeless shelter/organizational characteristics.

COVID-19 Death Determination Methods, Minnesota, USA, 2020-2022.

Accurate and timely mortality surveillance is crucial for elucidating risk factors, particularly for emerging diseases. We compared use of COVID-19 keywords on death certificates alone to identify COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota, USA, during 2020-2022, with use of a standardized mortality definition incorporating additional clinical data. For analyses, we used likelihood ratio χ and median 1-way tests.

Epidemiologic and tick exposure characteristics among people with reported Lyme disease - Minnesota, 2011-2019.

Aims And Methods: In the United States, blacklegged Ixodes spp. ticks are the primary vector of Lyme disease. Minnesota is among the states with the highest reported incidence of Lyme disease, having an average of 1857 cases reported annually during 2011-2019.

Outcomes up to age 36 months after congenital Zika virus infection-U.S. states.

Background: To characterize neurodevelopmental abnormalities in children up to 36 months of age with congenital Zika virus exposure.

Methods: From the U.S.

Seasonal activity patterns of host-seeking Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in Minnesota, 2015-2017.

As the primary vector of Lyme disease spirochetes and several other medically significant pathogens, Ixodes scapularis presents a threat to public health in the United States. The incidence of Lyme disease is growing rapidly in upper midwestern states, particularly Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The probability of a tick bite, acarological risk, is affected by the phenology of host-seeking I.

Expanded Molecular Testing on Patients with Suspected West Nile Virus Disease.

Most diagnostic testing for West Nile virus (WNV) disease is accomplished using serologic testing, which is subject to cross-reactivity, may require cumbersome confirmatory testing, and may fail to detect infection in specimens collected early in the course of illness. The objective of this project was to determine whether a combination of molecular and serologic testing would increase detection of WNV disease cases in acute serum samples. A total of 380 serum specimens collected ≤7 days after onset of symptoms and submitted to four state public health laboratories for WNV diagnostic testing in 2014 and 2015 were tested.

Postnatally Acquired Zika Virus Disease Among Children, United States, 2016-2017.

Background: The clinical findings among children with postnatally acquired Zika virus disease are not well characterized. We describe and compare clinical signs and symptoms for children aged <18 years.

Methods: Zika virus disease cases were included if they met the national surveillance case definition, had illness onset in 2016 or 2017, resided in a participating state, and were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Predicting Risk of Imported Disease with Demographics: Geospatial Analysis of Imported Malaria in Minnesota, 2010-2014.

Although immigrants who visit friends and relatives (VFRs) account for most of the travel-acquired malaria cases in the United States, there is limited evidence on community-level risk factors and best practices for prevention appropriate for various VFR groups. Using 2010-2014 malaria case reports, sociodemographic census data, and health services data, we explored and mapped community-level characteristics to understand who is at risk and where imported malaria infections occur in Minnesota. We examined associations with malaria incidence using Poisson and negative binomial regression.

Prevalence and distribution of seven human pathogens in host-seeking Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs in Minnesota, USA.

In the north-central United States, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is currently known to vector seven human pathogens. These include five bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia mayonii, Borrelia miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis), one protozoan (Babesia microti) and one virus (Powassan). We sought to assess the prevalence and distribution of these pathogens in host-seeking nymphs collected throughout Minnesota, a state on the northwestern edge of the tick's expanding range, where reported cases of I.

An Acarological Risk Model Predicting the Density and Distribution of Host-Seeking Nymphs in Minnesota.

is the vector of at least seven human pathogens in Minnesota, two of which are known to cause Lyme disease ( sensu stricto and ). In Minnesota, the statewide incidence of Lyme disease and other -borne diseases and the geographic extent over which cases have been reported have both increased substantially over the last two decades. These changes correspond with an expanding distribution of over a similar time frame.

Proposal to reclassify Ehrlichia muris as Ehrlichia muris subsp. muris subsp. nov. and description of Ehrlichia muris subsp. eauclairensis subsp. nov., a newly recognized tick-borne pathogen of humans.

We have previously described a novel taxon of the genus Ehrlichia (type strain WisconsinT), closely related to Ehrlichia muris, that causes human ehrlichiosis among patients with exposures to ticks in the upper midwestern USA. DNA from this bacterium was also detected in Ixodes scapularis and Peromyscus leucopus collected in Minnesota and Wisconsin. To determine the relationship between the E.

Male-to-Female Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus-United States, January-April 2016.

We report on 9 cases of male-to-female sexual transmission of Zika virus in the United States occurring January-April 2016. This report summarizes new information about both timing of exposure and symptoms of sexually transmitted Zika virus disease, and results of semen testing for Zika virus from 2 male travelers.

Borrelia mayonii sp. nov., a member of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, detected in patients and ticks in the upper midwestern United States.

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is a multisystem disease caused by spirochetes in the Borrelia burgdorferisensu lato (Bbsl) genospecies complex. We previously described a novel Bbsl genospecies (type strain MN14-1420T) that causes LB among patients with exposures to ticks in the upper midwestern USA. Patients infected with the novel Bbsl genospecies demonstrated higher levels of spirochetemia and somewhat differing clinical symptoms as compared with those infected with other Bbsl genospecies.