Tick Vector Biology: Medical and Veterinary Aspects

The book provides a comprehensive account of ticks and tick-borne diseases occurring in tropical and subtropical areas. It begins with a complete up-to-date overview of the systematics of the Ixodida (Ixodidae, Argasidae and Nutalliellidae) and is followed by a review of the problem of ticks and tick-borne diseases of domestic animals world wide. This leads on to multi-disciplinary approaches to planning tick and tick-borne disease control and to contributions on calculating the economic impact of a tick species such as Amblyomma americanum on beef production systems. Heartwater fever (cowdriosis) and dermatophilosis are endemic in Africa and pose a threat to the North American mainland. The epidemiology of these two diseases is discussed in detail as is the role of frozen vaccines to control bovine babesiosis and anaplasmosis. The book also includes chapters on tick transmitted zoonoses such as Lyme borreliosis, tick typhus and ehrlichiosis. It concludes with a review of the acaricidal treatment of tick infestation.