Tom G. Schwan ('13)

NIAID, NIH

903 South 4th Street

Hamilton, MT  59840            

Phone: 406-363-9250

Fax: 406-375-9681    

tschwan@niaid.nih.gov

Speaker’s URL:  http://www.niaid.nih.gov/labsandresources/labs/aboutlabs/lzp/medicalentomologysection/Pages/schwan.aspx 

LECTURE TOPICS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Epidemiology of Tick-borne Relapsing Fever in North America

Tick-borne relapsing fever is a zoonosis with the causative agents maintained in small mammal – tick cycles.  Three species of borrelia cause relapsing fever in North America, with each species of spirochete transmitted by a different species of tick in different ecological settings.  The distribution, spirochete diversity, tick and mammal hosts, pathogenesis of infection, and diagnosis and treatment will be covered.                                            

Epidemiology of Tick-borne Relapsing Fever in Africa

The history of early explorations in Africa that led to the first recognition of tick-borne relapsing fever will be discussed, followed by a presentation of current field studies that are being performed in Mali, West Africa.     

Adaptations of Spirochetes for Acquisition and Transmission by Ticks

Pathogenic spirochetes transmitted by ticks alter their surface proteins as these bacteria cycle between their mammalian and tick hosts.  The common and unique phenotypes of spirochetes that cause Lyme disease and relapsing fever will be described, which demonstrate adaptations for the acquisition and biological transmission by ticks with vastly different feeding behaviors.     

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Tom Schwan received his undergraduate training in biology at California State University, Hayward, where he also did his Master’s Degree research on the fleas parasitizing grassland rodents.  He next spent two years in the U.S. Peace Corps working on wildlife-related projects at Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya.  Tom then studied for his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, investigating the ecology of fleas and plague in East Africa.  He spent three years of postdoctoral training at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

Since 1986, Tom has been at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, where he is Chief of the Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens.  Tom and his group currently focus their efforts on the biology of ticks, the interaction of spirochetes in their tick vectors, improving serological tests for identifying human infections with spirochetes, and the epidemiology of tick-borne relapsing fever in North America and Africa.  Tom is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (elected 2001), served 9 years on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, currently serves on the editorial board of three journals, and has co-authored 162 scientific papers.

ASM MEMBERSHIP AFFILIATION

Primary Division        B         Microbial Pathogens

Secondary Division    D         Microbe-Host Interactions