Emerging tick-borne diseases and blood safety: summary of a public workshop

Tick-borne agents of disease continue to emerge and subsequently expand their geographic distribution. The threat to blood safety by tick-borne agents is ever increasing and requires constant surveillance concomitant with implementation of appropriate intervention methods. In April 2017, the Food and Drug Administration organized a public workshop on emerging tick-borne pathogens (excluding Babesia microti and Lyme disease) designed to provide updates on the current understanding of emerging tick-borne diseases, thereby allowing for extended discussions to determine if decisions regarding mitigation strategies need to be made proactively. Subject matter experts and other stakeholders participated in this workshop to discuss issues of biology, epidemiology, and clinical burden of tick-borne agents, risk of transfusion-transmission, surveillance, and considerations for decision making in implementing safety interventions. Herein, we summarize the scientific presentations, panel discussions, and considerations going forward.