Climate Change and Alternative Hosts Complicate the Eradication of Cattle Fever Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Southern United States, a Review

Abstract Potential reinvasion of the United States by cattle fever ticks, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus (Say) and R. (B.) microplus (Canestrini), which are endemic in Mexico, threatens domestic livestock industry because these ticks vector causal agents (Babesia bovis (Babes) (Piroplasmida: Babesidae) B. bigemina Smith & Kilborne) bovine babesiosis. The Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program safeguards health national herd preventing reemergence babesiosis keeping tick-free. Free-living southern tick, microplus, larvae have been collected from vegetation wildlife corridor Cameron Co.- Willacy Co., Texas. Finding on complements reported infestations hosts inhabiting south Texas coastal plains. Substantial population expansion native white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann) (Artiodactyla: Cervidae), exotic nilgai antelope Boselaphus tragocamelus (Pallas) Bovidae), both definitive for support local tick populations independent cattle. Increasing prevalence wild ungulates, widespread acaracide resistance, climate change, undermine efforts to control Thus, ecological conditions changed since were eradicated 1943 using cattle-centric strategies. These changes complicate keep free disease vectors. Technologies that could be applied integrated eradication discussed.