BACKGROUND Mosquitoes are the primary vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). Ticks have, however, been suggested to be potential reservoirs of WNV. In order to investigate their role in the spread of the virus, ticks, which had been collected from birds migrating northwards from Africa to Europe, were analyzed for the potential presence of WNV-RNA. METHODS On the Mediterranean islands Capri and An...

based on the consideration that R. aeschlimannii is usually found in ticks of the genus Hyalomma, primarily in H. marginatum (1). Therefore, 1 of the PCRs amplifi ed a fragment of the Hyalomma tick mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene and the other a fragment of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (7). The ITS2 fragment displayed the highest (99%) similarity with the respective fragment of H. ...

Hyalomma ticks were collected from Merino and black-headed Dorper sheep and their attachment preferences determined. The preferred site of attachment for Hyalomma marginatum rufipes on both Dorper and Merino sheep was the anogenital and inguinal areas (75-76%). On Dorper sheep, H. truncatum attached predominantly to the anogenital and inguinal areas (67.7%). On Merino sheep, most adults of this...

An outbreak of lameness amongst Merino lambs, associated with the presence of Hyalomma ticks, was investigated on a farm in the south-western Free State, South Africa. The purpose was to follow the progress of the condition and to determine the extent of involvement of the two Hyalomma species which occur in the region. The flock of experimental sheep (n = 460) ranged free in natural veld under...

Alien tick species of the genera Ixodes, Amblyomma, Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus are sporadically transferred to the territories of the Central European countries. A biological-medical review of the following alien tick species transferred to Poland is presented: Ixodes eldaricus, Ixodes festai, Amblyomma sphenodonti, Amblyomma exornatumn, Amblyomma flavomaculatum, Amblyomma latum, Amblyomma nutt...

Taxonomic uncertainty as to the identities of Hyalomma (Euhyalomma) scupense Schulze, 1919 and Hyalomma detritum Schulze, 1919 has existed for nearly 85 years. The chief criterion used to consider these taxa as separate species has been an ecological feature, namely that H. scupense is a one-host tick while H. detritum is a two-host species. Morphologically they are identical. To date no compre...

a molecular survey was performed for identification theileria spp in sheep and ticks during from 2010-2011 in fasa and kazeroun areas, fars province, iran. a total of 100 sheep from different flocks were clinically examined and blood samples with ixodid ticks collected. the prepared blood smears from capillary vein of ear were stained with giemsa methods and examined by using light microscope. ...