BACKGROUND Babesiosis is a haemoparasitic disease of domestic and wild animals caused by species of the genus Babesia. Babesia bigemina, B. bovis and B. divergens are known to be pathogenic in cattle. The disease is transmitted during blood feeding by infected ticks and is the most economically important tick-borne disease in tropical and subtropical areas. Ixodid ticks are vectors in the trans...

Ticks are ectoparasitic arthropods that can transmit a variety of microorganisms to humans and animals during blood feeding, causing serious infectious disorders, including Lyme disease. Acaricides are pharmacologic agents that kill ticks. The emergence of acaricide-resistant ticks calls for alternative control strategies for ticks and tick-borne diseases. Many animals develop resistance to tic...

Although the Malawi Lil20/1 (MAL) strain of African swine fever virus (ASFV) was isolated from Ornithodoros sp. ticks, our attempts to experimentally infect ticks by feeding them this strain failed. Ten different collections of Ornithodorus porcinus porcinus ticks and one collection of O. porcinus domesticus ticks were orally exposed to a high titer of MAL. At 3 weeks postinoculation (p.i.), <2...

Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, was lethal for the majority of experimentally and transovarially infected Rocky Mountain wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni). Overall, 94.1% of nymphs infected as larvae by feeding on rickettsemic guinea pigs died during the molt into adults and 88. 3% of adult female ticks infected as nymphs died prior to feeding. In co...

Nigeria has a high herd of cattle population, majority of which are in the hands of pastoralists. Apart from the direct effect of tick infestation on animal production and productivity, ticks are inevitably efficient vectors of many pathogens, like protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and rickettsiae to man and domestic animals. A survey on ticks (arthropods) was carried out in Zaria abattoir in Decemb...

The investigations concerning the spirochaetes Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato were conducted in 169 Ixodes ricinus female ticks (141 collected from roe deer and 28 from red deer) as well as in 11 Dermacentor reticulatus female ticks from deer shot in the South-East of Poland. Moreover, a single female Dermacentor reticulatus from a dog and 9 collected from plants were examined. DNA was isolate...

Bird-facilitated introduction of ticks and associated pathogens is postulated to promote invasion of tick-borne zoonotic diseases into urban areas. Results of a longitudinal study conducted in suburban Chicago, Illinois, USA, during 2005-2010 show that 1.6% of 6,180 wild birds captured in mist nets harbored ticks. Tick species in order of abundance were Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, Ixodes de...

We compared the rickettsial infection status of Amblyomma cajennense ticks, humans, dogs, and horses in both Brazilian spotted fever (BSF)-endemic and -nonendemic areas in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Most of the horses and few dogs from BSF-endemic areas had serologic titers against Rickettsia rickettsii antigens. In contrast, no dogs or horses from BSF-nonendemic areas had serologic titers...

Bartonella spp. can cause persistent bloodstream infections in humans and animals. To determine whether Bartonella henselae is present in questing Ixodes ricinus ticks, we analyzed the prevalence of B. henselae DNA among tick stages compared to the prevalence of DNA from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the pathogen most frequently transmitted by ticks. B. henselae DNA was present with a preval...

The low diversity we found could be explained by a recent introduction of the bacteria into the area [although A. phagocytophilum–seropositive horses have been found in the area since 2001 (3)] or by a selective sweep linked to the particular ticks and host reservoir in Camargue. The 5 species of ticks that we found positive for A. phagocytophilum have been described as potential vectors of A. ...