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D. Haag-wackernagel - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Host finding of the pigeon tick Argas reflexus.
Medical and veterinary entomology, 2016Co-Authors: B. Boxler, Peter Odermatt, D. Haag-wackernagelAbstract:The medically and veterinary important feral pigeon tick Argas reflexus (Ixodida: Argasidae) Fabricius usually feeds on pigeons, but if its natural hosts are not available, it also enters dwellings to bite humans that can possibly react with severe allergic reactions. Argas reflexus is ecologically extremely successful as a result of some outstanding morphological, physiological, and ethological features. Yet, it is still unknown how the pigeon tick finds its hosts. Here, different host stimuli such as living nestlings as well as begging calls, body heat, smell, host breath and tick faeces, were tested under controlled laboratory conditions. Of all stimuli tested, only heat played a role in host-finding. The heat stimulus was then tested under natural conditions within a pigeon loft. The results showed that A. reflexus is able to find a host over short distances of only a few centimetres. Furthermore, it finds its host by random movements and recognizes a host only right before direct contact is made. The findings are useful for the control of A. reflexus in infested apartments, both to diagnose an infestation and to perform a success monitoring after disinfestation.
B. Boxler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Host finding of the pigeon tick Argas reflexus.
Medical and veterinary entomology, 2016Co-Authors: B. Boxler, Peter Odermatt, D. Haag-wackernagelAbstract:The medically and veterinary important feral pigeon tick Argas reflexus (Ixodida: Argasidae) Fabricius usually feeds on pigeons, but if its natural hosts are not available, it also enters dwellings to bite humans that can possibly react with severe allergic reactions. Argas reflexus is ecologically extremely successful as a result of some outstanding morphological, physiological, and ethological features. Yet, it is still unknown how the pigeon tick finds its hosts. Here, different host stimuli such as living nestlings as well as begging calls, body heat, smell, host breath and tick faeces, were tested under controlled laboratory conditions. Of all stimuli tested, only heat played a role in host-finding. The heat stimulus was then tested under natural conditions within a pigeon loft. The results showed that A. reflexus is able to find a host over short distances of only a few centimetres. Furthermore, it finds its host by random movements and recognizes a host only right before direct contact is made. The findings are useful for the control of A. reflexus in infested apartments, both to diagnose an infestation and to perform a success monitoring after disinfestation.
T. N. Petney - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Argas transgariepinus white 1846 figs 10 and 11
2017Co-Authors: T. N. Petney, Miriam Pfaffle, Agustin EstradapenaAbstract:Only limited information is available on this species. Other than some records used in its original description, only a few data on its distribution are available. It is an Argasid which has some peculiar morphological features, as described by Hoogstraal (1957). The larva has peritremes, a kind of elongated structure on the lateral and ventral sides of the idiosome, which are related to air exchange. These are most similar to those found in predatory and free-living mesostigmatid mites. This unusual feature, plus others found in the adult stage, provided enough background to create the subgenus SecretArgas.
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Argas vespertilionis latreille 1796 figs 8 and 9
2017Co-Authors: T. N. Petney, T G T Jaenson, Miriam PfaffleAbstract:Hoogstraal (1958) and Filippova (1966) provide detailed descriptions of the morphology of the different stages of A. vespertilionis.
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Argas reflexus fabricius 1794 figs 4 and 5
2017Co-Authors: M P Pfaffle, T. N. PetneyAbstract:The life cycle of A. reflexus comprises eggs, larvae, two to four nymphal stages and the adults. Laboratory studies showed that the number of nymphal instars seems to depend on the outside temperature, with cooler temperatures leading to fewer instars. The life cycle might be as long as 3–11 years in Central Europe. Hosts are predominantly domestic pigeons (Columba livia domestica). Other hosts include rock pigeons (C. livia), turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur), swifts, swallows, owls, crows, several passerine birds and chickens.
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Argas persicus oken 1818 figs 2 and 3
2017Co-Authors: M P Pfaffle, T. N. PetneyAbstract:Before the work of Hoogstraal and colleagues in the 1960s and 1970s, there was considerable confusion as to the taxonomic definition, distribution, ecology and biology of A. persicus due to confusion with a variety of other species. Records prior to 1970, particularly those from outside of the currently known range of this species, should therefore be treated sceptically.
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Argas persicus sensu stricto does occur in Australia
Parasitology Research, 2004Co-Authors: T. N. Petney, R. H. Andrews, L. A. Mcdiarmid, B. R. DixonAbstract:The status of Argas persicus in Australia has been a matter of controversy for over 25 years. Although early records of A. persicus sensu stricto are common, a major revision of the genus indicated that these records refer to A. robertsi , first described in 1968 from northern Australia, and to an “undescribed” member of the complex occurring in the south. Here, we show that A. persicus sensu stricto does occur in southern Australia and is the only species of Argas in the area recorded from poultry. Another undescribed species belonging to the A. persicus complex, from crows’ nests near Lake Eyre in South Australia, was also discovered. This information is of considerable epidemiological significance, as A. persicus sensu stricto is a major vector for a number of highly pathogenic diseases of poultry, not all of which have yet been recorded from Australia.
Jorg Kleinetebbe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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anaphylaxis after Argas reflexus bite
Allergy, 2000Co-Authors: M C Sirianni, G Mattiacci, B Barbone, A Mari, F Aiuti, Jorg KleinetebbeAbstract:. DUE to the growing populations of wild urban pigeons, the natural hosts of parasitic ticks such as Argas re exus (Arg r), there is an increased risk of allergic reactions to tick bites, presumably caused by the proteins secreted by the tick's salivary glands. Allergic reactions with symptoms ranging from local manifestations at the bite site (itching, edema, and erythema) to severe systemic reactions (urticariaangioedema and shock) have been reported in Europe (1±5). Here we report two patients who experienced severe systemic reactions after a bite by Arg r. A 37-year-old man, living in a small town in central Italy near an old building, experienced two severe systemic reactions: the ®rst one with urticaria-angioedema and the second one with cardiovascular failure and loss of consciousness. Both episodes occurred after nocturnal bites by a pigeon tick, identi®ed as Arg r. Clinical history, skin prick test, and speci®c IgE measurements (CAP System, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Sweden) did not indicate any sensitization to common inhalants or food allergens. Total IgE (UniCAP) was 32 kU/l. Interestingly, the patient had experienced local reactions to venom from Apis mellifera (honeybee). Speci®c IgE was detected to A. mellifera (2.34 kU/l, CAP class 2) and to Arg r (5.73 kU/l, CAP class 3). In contrast, no speci®c IgE could be detected to allergens of Dolichovespula maculata, Vespa crabo, Vespula spp., Polistes spp., Solenopsis invicta, Aedes comunis, Chironomus thummi, Tabanus spp., Blatella germanica, and Sitophilus granarius. The second patient was a 26-year-old man, also living in an ancient city of central Italy. He experienced several local reactions to bites of the pigeon tick, subsequently identi®ed as Arg r, before developing two episodes of systemic reactions, with anaphylactic shock, to the tick bite. History, skin prick test, and speci®c IgE to common inhalant and food allergens were negative. Total IgE was 77.1 kU/l; speci®c IgE to Arg r was 1.27 kU/l (CAP class 2). Severe, potentially life-threatening reactions in our patients con®rm former cases of anaphylactic manifestations after Arg r tick bite (2, 3, 5). The patients described were living close to old buildings. Attics or roofs might have served as pigeon breeding sites, and ticks such as Arg r could have migrated to apartments in the neighborhood. Repeated tick bites can induce IgE-mediated sensitization to allergens of the soft tick even in subjects without atopic predisposition. Severe immediate-type systemic reactions, as suggested by the clinical histories, were directly con®rmed by the presence of speci®c IgE to Arg r and indirectly by the absence of speci®c IgE (except for A. mellifera in one case) to other arthropods, including stinging insects, taxonomically different from Arg r. IgE-mediated cross-reactivity between proteins of the tick and other arthropods seems unlikely, in view of the speci®city of the test employed to assess speci®c IgE to Arg r. Future efforts should be made to identify and use recombinant single allergenic proteins of Arg r to demonstrate more accurately an IgE-mediated reaction to pigeon tick bite.
Peter Odermatt - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Host finding of the pigeon tick Argas reflexus.
Medical and veterinary entomology, 2016Co-Authors: B. Boxler, Peter Odermatt, D. Haag-wackernagelAbstract:The medically and veterinary important feral pigeon tick Argas reflexus (Ixodida: Argasidae) Fabricius usually feeds on pigeons, but if its natural hosts are not available, it also enters dwellings to bite humans that can possibly react with severe allergic reactions. Argas reflexus is ecologically extremely successful as a result of some outstanding morphological, physiological, and ethological features. Yet, it is still unknown how the pigeon tick finds its hosts. Here, different host stimuli such as living nestlings as well as begging calls, body heat, smell, host breath and tick faeces, were tested under controlled laboratory conditions. Of all stimuli tested, only heat played a role in host-finding. The heat stimulus was then tested under natural conditions within a pigeon loft. The results showed that A. reflexus is able to find a host over short distances of only a few centimetres. Furthermore, it finds its host by random movements and recognizes a host only right before direct contact is made. The findings are useful for the control of A. reflexus in infested apartments, both to diagnose an infestation and to perform a success monitoring after disinfestation.