Favorite Tick and Why: Amblyomma americanum, the lone star tick – beautiful, ecologically successful, aggressive, and extraordinary transmitter of pathogens both known and yet to be discovered

Favorite Tick and Why: Amblyomma americanum, the lone star tick – beautiful, ecologically successful, aggressive, and extraordinary transmitter of pathogens both known and yet to be discovered

Education: BS Cornell University; DVM Virginia Tech; PhD University of Georgia; Dipl. EVPC

Title: Professor and Krull-Ewing Endowed Chair in Veterinary Parasitology

Phone: 405.744.8523

Fax: 405.744.5275

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Area of Research Expertise: ehrlichiosis, borreliosis, canine tick-borne diseases

Research Interests: mechanisms responsible for maintaining zoonotic and veterinary disease agents in tick vectors and reservoir hosts; transmission dynamics of tick-borne disease agents; identification of novel tick-borne pathogens

Teaching: Clinical Parasitology (DVM students); Biology of Parasitism (graduate students); guest lectures in variety of courses on emerging vector-borne diseases and public health

Selected Publications: (Last 3-5 years)

S. E. Little, J. Hostetler, K. M. Kocan. 2007. Movement of Rhipicephalus sanguineus adults between co-housed dogs during active feeding. Veterinary Parasitology. 150(1-2):139-145.

S. A. Billeter, H. L. Blanton, S. E. Little, M. G. Levy, E. B. Breitschwerdt. 2007. Detection of Rickettsia amblyommii in association with a tick bite rash. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 7(4):607-610.

A. S. Varela, J. V. Stokes, W. R. Davidson, and S. E. Little. 2006. Co-infection of white-tailed deer with multiple strains of Ehrlichia chaffeensis. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 6(2):140-151.

V. G. Dugan, M. J. Yabsley, C. M. Tate, D. G. Mead, U. G. Munderloh, M. J. Herron, D. E. Stallknecht, S. E. Little, and W. R. Davidson. 2006. Evaluation of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as natural sentinels for Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 6(2):192-207.

P. L. Moyer, A. S. Varela, M. P. Luttrell, V. A. Moore, D. E. Stallknecht, S. E. Little. 2006. White-tailed deer develop spirochetemia following experimental infection with Borrelia lonestari. Veterinary Microbiology. 115(1-3):229-36.

M. J. Yabsley, M. C. Wimberly, V. G. Dugan, S. E. Little, D. E. Stallknecht, W. R. Davidson. 2005. Spatial analysis of the distribution of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, causative agent of human monocytotropic ehrlichiosis. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 72(6):840-50.

A. S. Varela, M. P. Luttrell, E. W. Howerth, V. A. Moore, D. E. Stallknecht, W. R. Davidson, and S. E. Little. 2004. First culture isolation of Borrelia lonestari, putative agent of southern tick-associated rash illness. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 42(3): 1163-1169.

A. S. Varela, V. A. Moore, S. E. Little. 2004. Disease agents in Amblyomma americanum from northeastern Georgia. Journal of Medical Entomology. 41(4): 753-9.

M. J. Yabsley, V. G. Dugan, D. E. Stallknecht, S. E. Little, J. M. Lockhart, J. E. Dawson, and W. R. Davidson. 2003. Evaluation of a prototype Ehrlichia chaffeensis surveillance system using white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as natural sentinels. Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 3(4):195-207.

M. J. Yabsley, S. E. Little, E. J. Sims†, V. G. Dugan, D. E. Stallknecht, and W. R. Davidson. 2003. Molecular variation in the variable-length PCR target and 120-kilodalton antigen genes of Ehrlichia chaffeensis from white-tailed deer. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 41:5202-5206.