One of the causes increasing the threat of vector-borne diseases in humans and livestock are emerging infectious diseases of wildlife (Cunningham et al., 2017; Daszek et al., 2000; Titcomb et al., 2017). These emerging infectious diseases are mostly zoonotic or arising from animal reservoirs and adapting to human transmission (Plowright et al., 2017; Waltner-Toews, 2016). We recently convened the first Asia-Pacific Rickettsia Conference (APRC1) with the 9th Tick and Tick-borne Pathogens (TTP9) Conference in Cairns, Australia, from 27th August until 1st September 2017. The conference theme was ‘One Health’, which included a fusion of 240 medical, veterinary and wildlife delegates from 38 different countries. TTP9 Convenors Tabor and Rodriguez Valle (2018) prepared a conference overview (Veterinary Sciences journal), and this editorial provides a brief description of the articles presented in this Special Issue from the same conference. Prof. José de la Fuente was the TTP9 Senior Researcher awardee for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens’ and thus was also invited to present a plenary at the conference. His Special Issue article ‘Controlling ticks and tick-borne diseases…looking forward’ fits well with the theme of the conference and discusses ideas this research community could consider ‘moving forward’.