The Mkuze Game Reserve (MGR), in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa is an African swine fever virus (ASF) controlled area. In a survey conducted in 1978, ASF prevalence in warthogs and Ornithodoros ticks in MGR was determined to be 2% and 0.06%, respectively. These values, acknowledged as being unusually low compared to other East and southern African ASF-positive sylvatic-cycle...

Savignygrin, a platelet aggregation inhibitor that possesses the RGD integrin recognition motif, has been purified from the soft tick Ornithodoros savignyi. Two isoforms with similar biological activities differ because of R52G and N60G in their amino acid sequences, indicating a recent gene duplication event. Platelet aggregation induced by ADP (IC50, 130 nm), collagen, the thrombin receptor-a...

BACKGROUND The presence in Morocco of Argasid ticks of the Ornithodoros erraticus complex, the vector of tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) in North Africa, has been known since 1919, but the disease is rarely diagnosed and few epidemiological data are available. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Between 2006 and 2011, we investigated the presence of Ornithodoros ticks in rodent burrows in 34 sit...

Relapsing fever, caused by the spirochete Borrelia hermsii and transmitted by the soft tick Ornithodoros hermsi, is endemic in many rural mountainous areas of California. Between 1996 and 1998, 12 cases of relapsing fever associated with two exposure sites in northern California were investigated. Follow-up at exposure sites included collection of soft ticks and serum specimens from sylvatic ro...

Herrero N, Pérez R, Oleaga A, Zabalgogeazcoa I. 2011. Tick pathogenicity, thermal tolerance and virus infection in Tolypocladium cylindrosporum. Annals of Applied Biology 159:192-201. Tolypocladium cylindrosporum is a fungus which has been isolated from soil, from asymptomatic plants as an endophyte, and has been shown to be pathogenic to several species of arthropods. The objective of the pres...