Ticks Flashcards
Describe the 3 parts of the mouth of a tick
-Chilcerae cut a hole in the skin and the hypostome in the middle enters the hole and is held in place by backwards facing teeth
What does the saliva of a tick contain?
- Anticoagulants
- Vasodilators
- Immunosuppressive proteins
What are the direct/ indirect affects of a tick?
Direct: inflammation at attachment site -Anaemia -'Tick paralysis' Indirect -Biological vectors
What are the two types of ticks?
Soft (argasid)
Hard (Ioxdid)
What does the presence of a genital aperture mean?
It is an adult
What does nidicolous and non nidicolous mean?
- Nidiculous ticks like in the nest/ burrow of the host when not feeding (most argasic ticks)
- Non nidicolous ticks are in the open environment and ‘go questing’ when they need to feed
Describe argas persicus
- The fowl tick: causes anaemia, loss of production
- Transmits: Borrelia anserina
What is the castor bean tick?
Ixodes ricinus
What is the hedgehog tick found in the UK?
Ixedes hexagonous
What species does ixodes canisuga infect?
Dogs and badgers
What is the proper name for the red sheep tick?
-Haemaphysalis punctata
What are the 2 classifications used to help ID ticks?
Whether they are ornate or not ornate
Ornate ticks have festoons around the edge
Discuss tickborne fever
- An indirect effect by Ixodid ticks
- Caused by Anaplasmosis phagocytophilum
- Transtadial transmission
- Causes immunosuppression- in lambs with this can have staph. aurerus introduced via bite wounds and umbilical cord-> leads to infections
What causes lyme disease?
- Borrelia spp.(mainly B. burgdorferi)
- Transtradial and transovarial transmission
- In dogs recurrent lameness, lack of appetite and depression are the main symptoms
Discuss louping ill
- Caused by Infectious ovine encephalomyelitis
- Mainly disease seen in sheep and grouse
- Virus infects CNS, causing significant suffering in clinically affected animals
