Lauren Paul Maestas

Lauren Paul Maestas
  • Ph.D. - Biology M.S. Wildlife Health
  • Research Ecologist at United States Department of Agriculture

About

33
Publications
5,227
Reads
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328
Citations
Introduction
I am a research ecologist for USDA-ARS at the cattle fever tick research lab. I am a vector ecologist who has worked in tick-borne diseases, and plague ecology. My interests lie in vector borne and zoonotic disease, with special interest in wildlife diseases.
Current institution
United States Department of Agriculture
Current position
  • Research Ecologist
Additional affiliations
July 2013 - April 2016
University of South Dakota
Position
  • PhD Student

Publications

Publications (33)
Article
Full-text available
The Asian longhorned tick (ALT), Haemaphysalis longicornis, is a three‐host hard tick native to East Asia. Its opportunistic feeding habits make it an acute agricultural and medical threat, capable of spreading various zoonotic pathogens. An affinity for livestock and companion animals has allowed parthenogenetic populations of ALT to travel to and...
Article
Full-text available
Cattle fever ticks (CFT) represent a significant economic burden to the livestock industry worldwide, and novel methods are needed for treatment of CFT on livestock and wildlife. Two similar botanical pesticides, Stop the Bites®! and Arkion® Fly and Tick Spray, were evaluated in a pen trial to control CFT on cattle using a motion activated 3-D Quik...
Article
Full-text available
Cattle fever ticks, Rhipicelphalus (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini) and Rhipicephlaus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say) (CFT) are a significant threat to livestock industries in tropical and warm temperate climates world-wide. It is estimated that an extended outbreak of CFT in the US would result in damages of approximately 1.2 billion USD. Typical co...
Article
Full-text available
Wildlife are hosts of ectoparasites, such as fleas and ticks that may transmit human and animal pathogens. Little is known about the ecology of many ectoparasite species native to southern Texas, or their role in pathogen maintenance and transmission. Much attention has been given to the role of nonnative nilgai antelope as cattle fever tick hosts...
Article
Background: Soft ticks (Family: Argasidae) are vectors of relapsing fever Borrelia in the United States and are potential vectors of African swine fever virus, a pathogen that could have a devastating effect on the U.S. swine industry if introduced to the U.S. mainland. Much of the tick-borne disease research in the U.S. focuses on hard ticks, and...
Article
Full-text available
Tick vectors and tick‐borne disease are increasingly impacting human populations globally. An important challenge is to understand tick movement patterns, as this information can be used to improve management and predictive modelling of tick population dynamics. Evolutionary analysis of genetic divergence, gene flow and local adaptation provides in...
Article
Reintroduction and dispersal of the livestock and wildlife pest, southern cattle fever tick, rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini), along the U.S.Mexico border in the southernmost counties of Cameron and Willacy has been attributed mostly to nilgai antelope, Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas), and to a lesser extent, white-tailed deer, Odo...
Article
Se demostró que el eritritol, un poliol de 4 carbonos no nutritivo, tiene propiedades insecticidas para múltiples plagas de artrópodos. Las formulaciones de eritritol combinadas con sacarosa, como fagoestimulante, mejoraron el consumo y la eficacia insecticida sobre las plagas. Sin embargo, el agregar sacarosa aporta recursos nutricionales de carbo...
Preprint
Tick vectors and tick-borne disease are increasingly impacting human populations globally. An important challenge is to understand tick movement patterns, as this information can be used to improve management and predictive modeling of tick population dynamics. Evolutionary analysis of genetic divergence, gene flow, and local adaptation provides in...
Article
Full-text available
Characterizing the diversity of genes associated with virulence and transmission of a pathogen across the pathogen's distribution can inform our understanding of host infection risk. Borrelia burgdorferi is a vector-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease in humans and is common in the United States. The outer surface protein C (ospC) gene of B. b...
Article
Full-text available
Haemaphysalis chordeilis Packard, also known as the grouse or bird tick, is a three-host tick native to North America. Literature from the early 20th century reported a widespread distribution of this tick across the US and Canada. As its name implies, ground-dwelling birds such as grouse and quail were frequent hosts, and occasionally large infest...
Article
Stop the Bites botanical pesticide was evaluated for repellent properties against white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmerman), at feeders with supplemental corn, Zea mays L., in Cameron County, Texas. The pesticide was tested as a ground treatment around feeders and as spray applied directly to deer as they consumed corn at supplemental f...
Article
Full-text available
We report the multi-year collection of the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum Koch (Acaridae: Ixodida: Ixodidae) in Staten Island, New York City (NYC) as well as their detection in Brooklyn, NYC, and in Atlantic and Cumberland counties in southern New Jersey, USA. The first and most common detections were of adults, however in Freshkills Park on...
Preprint
Full-text available
We report the multi-year collection of the Gulf Coast tick, Amblyomma maculatum Koch (Acaridae: Ixodida: Ixodidae) in Staten Island, New York City (NYC) as well as their detection in Brooklyn, NYC, and in Atlantic and Cumberland counties in southern NJ, USA. The first detections on all sites were of adults but in Freshkills Park on Staten Island la...
Article
Full-text available
Lyme disease is common in the northeastern United States, but rare in the southeast, even though the tick vector is found in both regions. Infection prevalence of Lyme spirochetes in host-seeking ticks, an important component to the risk of Lyme disease, is also high in the northeast and northern midwest, but declines sharply in the south. As ticks...
Article
Established populations of Asian longhorned ticks (ALT), Haemaphysalis longicornis , were first identified in the United States (US) in 2017 by sequencing the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (cox1 ) ‘barcoding’ locus followed by morphological confirmation. Subsequent investigations detected ALT infestations in 12, mostly eastern, US st...
Article
Full-text available
Haemaphysalis longicornis (Asian Longhorned Tick [ALT]) was first recognized in the US, outside of customs, in New Jersey in 2017, and now has been documented in 2 Delaware counties. In Asia, where this species is native, and other parts of the world, the ALT is a known or suspected vector of various pathogens to humans, wildlife, and livestock. Th...
Preprint
Full-text available
Amblyomma maculatum Koch is the primary vector of Rickettsia parkeri, the etiologic agent of tidewater spotted fever, and can also carry and transmit a variety of other pathogens. This tick historically has been a costly nuisance to livestock owners in the southeastern United States. Over the past 6 yr, A. maculatum has been collected in numbers su...
Article
Full-text available
Amblyomma maculatum Koch is the primary vector of Rickettsia parkeri, the etiologic agent of tidewater spotted fever, and can also carry and transmit a variety of other pathogens. This tick historically has been a costly nuisance to livestock owners in the southeastern United States. Over the past 6 yr, A. maculatum has been collected in numbers su...
Article
Full-text available
The scope of literature concerning tick-borne disease in South Dakota (SD) is limited primarily to case reports by public health officials. Published records of ticks occurring in the state are scarce and are mostly limited to reports of ticks opportunistically collected from wildlife, with little focus on surveillance for ticks themselves or poten...
Article
Full-text available
Sylvatic plague affects many species in North American prairie ecosystems. Deltamethrin is commonly used to manage fleas in potential outbreak areas. Understanding the role of small mammals and their ectoparasites in sylvatic plague maintenance is pertinent to understanding the ecology of plague and its persistence in nature. This study examined th...
Thesis
Full-text available
Sylvatic plague is a prominent disease in North American prairie ecosystems affecting a wide array of species, and being primarily a flea-borne disease. Understanding the role of small mammals and their ectoparasites in the maintenance of sylvatic plague is pertinent in understanding the ecology of the pathogen and its mode of persistence in nature...
Article
Full-text available
Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) is the principal vector of Borrelia burgdorferi (the etiologic agent of Lyme disease) in the eastern and midwestern United States. Recent efforts have documented the first established population of I. scapularis in South Dakota, representing a western expansion of the known species distribution. Our goal was to d...
Article
Full-text available
Maintenance of sylvatic plague in prairie dogs (Cynomis spp.) was once thought unlikely due to high mortality rates; yet more recent findings indicate that low-level enzootic plague may be maintained in susceptible prairie dog populations. Another hypothesis for the maintenance of sylvatic plague involves small mammals, other than prairie dogs, as...
Article
Full-text available
Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae) is the most important vector of human disease in the United States. Recent efforts by public health officials to determine its presence on a county-by-county basis have been undertaken to assist in Lyme disease risk assessment. Recent modeling efforts show that South Dakota can potentially support populations...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract We examined 31 free-ranging coyotes (Canis latrans) from central Georgia, USA, for select parasites and viral agents. Sixteen coyotes had adult heartworms (Dirofilaria immitis). Serum samples from 27 animals revealed antibodies against canine parvovirus (100%), canine distemper virus (48%), canine adenovirus (37%), and Trypanosoma cruzi (7...
Article
Full-text available
Trichomonas gallinae is a protozoan parasite commonly found in columbids, passerines, and raptors. In passerines and columbids, trichomonosis causes significant morbidity and mortality associated with contaminated bird feeders and waters. However, there has been little work on the persistence of T. gallinae in water to determine if artificial water...
Thesis
Full-text available
The Lyme borreliosis (LB) cycle, involving Ixodes scapularis and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss), is well documented in the northeastern US, where LB is becoming increasingly prevalent. In coastal North Carolina, I. affinis has been shown to have a higher incidence of Bbss than I. scapularis. My objectives were, to assess changes in preva...
Conference Paper
The classic Lyme borreliosis (LB) cycle, involving the vector Ixodes scapularis and the etiological agent Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss), has been well documented in the Northeastern US, where this disease is becoming increasingly prevalent in humans and dogs. In the Western US, the LB cycle involves two tick species: Ixodes spinipalpis...

Questions

Questions (2)
Question
I'm trying to get a good protocol for PCR on tick DNA extractions for Francisella tularensis. Does anybody have any good suggestions? I've seen a couple but mostly multiplex reactions, and nothing that seems very highly cited.
Thanks a bunch.
Lauren
Question
Trying to find a good genus level key for Amaradix spp., does anybody have any suggestions (other than hubbard)? Thank you.
Lauren

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