A lone-star tick, Amblyomma americanum, was found as a pedunculated lesion on the back of the arm of an 84 year old man in Northern Ireland. This was acquired on a visit to the USA. The tick is found mainly in Texas and the Ozark mountains of Missouri, with scattered foci in other parts of southern USA. It is the vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever. As worldwide travel becomes increasingly c...

AIM The vulnerability of tropical developing countries to the emerging disease constitutes a critical phenomenon in which the invasion of wild niches by human hosts, contributes to expansion of zoonotic diseases, such as the Brazilian spotted fever (BSF). This study performed a diagnosis of species occurrence of their hosts (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and vectors (Amblyomma sculptum and Amblyom...

1. World Health Organization. World health report 1998, life in 21st century—a vision for all. Geneva: The Organization; 1998. 2. World Health Organization. Health Situation in SEAR. Geneva: The Organization; 1999. 3. Report of National AIDS Control Organisation (2001), New Delhi: Government of India: 2001. 4. Gilson RJ, Hawkins AE, Beecham MR, Ross E, Waite J, Briggs M, et al. Interactions bet...

The feeding methods, activities and behaviour of red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers in captivity were compared. Both species were found to be very similar with regard to feeding. The differences observed were a greater dependence on ectoparasites such as flies and larger ticks (Amblyomma hebraeum) and a higher food intake for the yellow-billed oxpecker. These differences are the result of t...

Rickettsia africae is the agent of African tick-bite fever, a mild but common disease of local persons and tourists in Africa. The major vector of this spotted fever group rickettsia is most likely Amblyomma variegatum, the tropical bont tick, which has become widely distributed through the West Indies in the last 30 years. This report reviews all available information on R. africae in the West...

A comparison of attachment, engorgement and moulting success of Amblyomma hebraeum larvae fed on domestic chickens and Himalayan giant white rabbits indicates that chickens are better hosts than the rabbits. Moreover the time needed for detachment of all engorged larvae is significantly less for chickens than for the rabbits. No evidence of induced immunity was found in chickens on re-infestati...

Hard ticks feed for several days or weeks on their hosts. Blood feeding is assisted by tick saliva, which is injected in the host skin regularly, alternating with blood ingestion. Tick saliva contains hundreds or thousands of different peptides and other bioactive compounds that assist feeding by inhibiting their hosts' blood clotting, platelet aggregation, vasoconstriction, as well as pain and...

After being passaged through 3 generations of Amblyomma hebraeum, an Ehrlichia-like agent isolated from an adult Hyalomma truncatum female became more pathogenic and elicited a disease in sheep indistinguishable from heartwater. Cross-immunity between this agent and several stocks of Cowdria ruminantium and high levels of antibody elicited by the agent against 2 stocks of C. ruminantium in the ...