Ixodes persulcatus, the taiga tick, is a species of hard-bodied tick distributed from Europe through central and northern Asia to the People's Republic of China and Japan.[1] The sexual dimorphism of the species is marked, the male being much smaller than the female.[2] Hosts include wild and domestic ungulates, man, dog, rabbit, and other small mammals, including the dormouse, Amur hedgehog, and occasionally birds.[3]
Disease transmission
Ixodes persulcatus ticks transmit Lyme disease, relapsing fever (Borrelia miyamotoi), babesiosis, and Siberian (TBEV-Sib) and Far Eastern (TBEV-FE) tick-borne encephalitis,[1][4] and probably human granulocytic anaplasmosis as well.[5] A recent study of the northernmost tick-borne encephalitis focus in Simo, Finnish Lapland, found I. persulcatus ticks in scattered foci along the western coast, including the Kokkolaarchipelago and Närpes municipality, demonstrating a northward movement of foci and an unusual combination of the TBEV-Eur strain and I. persulcatus ticks in an area with no evidence of cocirculation of tick species or TBEV subtypes.[1]
^James E. Keirans; Glen R. Needham; James H. Oliver Jr. (1999). "The Ixodes ricinus complex worldwide: diagnosis of the species in the complex, hosts and distribution". In Glen R. Needham; Rodger Mitchell; David J. Horn; W. Calvin Welbourn (eds.). Acarology IX, Volume 2, Symposia. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio Biological Survey. p. 344. ISBN978-0-86727-123-2.
^Marina E. Eremeeva; Alice Oliveira; John Moriarity; Jennilee B. Robinson; Nikolay K. Tokarevich; Ludmila P. Antyukova; Valentina A. Pyanyh; Olga N. Emeljanova; Valentina N. Ignatjeva; Roman Buzinov; Valentina Pyankova; Gregory A. Dasch (2007). "Detection and identification of bacterial agents in Ixodes persulcatus Schulze ticks from the north western region of Russia". Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 7 (3): 426–36. doi:10.1089/vbz.2007.0112. PMID17767409.
