overall 1906 adult ticks, as well as their nymphs and larvae were collected from the body surface of cattle in the animal husbandries located in north, north-east, south and south-west of ahwaz area, khoozestan, iran, during 1991-1993. the identified adult ticks were hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum (c.l.koch, 1844), hyalomma anatolicum excavatum (c.l. koch, 1844), boophilus annulatus (say, 1821)...

Ticks are obligate hematophagous parasites and important vectors of diseases. The large amount of blood they consume contains great quantities of iron, an essential but also toxic element. The function of ferritin, an iron storage protein, and iron metabolism in ticks need to be further elucidated. Here, we investigated the function a newly identified secreted ferritin from the hard tick Haemap...

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging hemorrhagic fever in East Asia caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), a newly discovered phlebovirus. The Haemaphysalis longicornis tick has been suspected to be the vector of SFTSV. To determine whether SFTSV can be transmitted among ticks, from ticks to animals, and from animals to ticks, we conducted transmission studies between develo...

b a ckground: babesiosis is a haemoparasitic disease of domestic and wild animals caused by species of the genus bab esia . bab esia bigemina , b . bovis and b . divergens are known to be pathogenic in cattle. the disease is transmit- ted during blood feeding by infected ticks and is the most economically important tick-borne disease in tropical and subtropical areas. ixodid ticks are vectors i...

The presence, internal distribution, and phylogenetic position of endosymbiotic bacteria from four species of specific-pathogen-free ticks were studied. These included the hard ticks Ixodes scapularis (the black-legged tick), Rhipicephalus sanguineus (the brown dog tick), and Haemaphysalis longicornis and the African soft tick Ornithodoros moubata. PCR assays for bacteria, using two sets of gen...

Arsenophonus nasoniae, a male-killing endosymbiont of chalcid wasps, was recently detected in several hard tick species. Following the hypothesis that its presence in ticks may not be linked to the direct occurrence of bacteria in tick's organs, we identified A. nasoniae in wasps emerging from parasitised nymphs. We confirmed that 28.1% of Ixodiphagus hookeri wasps parasitizing Ixodes ricinus t...

Ticks surpass all other ectoparasitic arthropods in the number of diseases they transmit to animals and humans [1]. The hard tick Haemaphysalis is also the primary vector of the pathogens causing babesiosis in humans and domestic animals in Japan [2]. Antimicrobial peptides are a major component of the innate immune system in host defense, which is a well-conserved and evolutionarily ancient me...

Subolesin (4D8), the ortholog of insect akirins, is a highly conserved protective antigen and thus has the potential for development of a broad-spectrum vaccine against ticks and mosquitoes. To date, no protective antigens have been characterized nor tested as candidate vaccines against Dermacentor silvarum bites and transmission of associated pathogens. In this study, we cloned the open readin...

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...

Ixodid ticks are well known for spreading transmitted tick-borne pathogens while being attached to their hosts for almost 1-2 weeks to obtain blood meals. Thus, they must secrete many immunosuppressant factors to combat the hosts' immune system. In the present work, we investigated an immunosuppressant peptide of the hard tick Amblyomma variegatum. This peptide, named amregulin, is composed of ...