Abstract
Tick-borne disease surveillance was conducted monthly at different sites in four southwestern provinces of the Republic of Korea (ROK) from April–October 2013. Three general habitats were surveyed: grasses (grasses and herbaceous and crawling vegetation), forests (pine, larch, deciduous, and mixed), and forests+grasses. A total of 27,029 ticks (1,534 adults; 11,755 nymphs; 13,740 larvae) belonging to three genera and five species were collected. Haemaphysalis longicornis (64.76%; 17,504) was the most commonly collected tick, followed by Haemaphysalis flava (29.22%; 7,899), Ixodes nipponensis (5.83%; 1,575), Amblyomma testudinarium (0.17%; 46), and Haemaphysalis phasiana (0.02%; 5). Overall, adult ticks accounted for only 5.68% of all ticks collected, while nymphs and larvae accounted for 43.49% and 50.83%, respectively. Haemaphysalis longicornis nymphs were commonly collected from April–June, followed by increased numbers of adults from June–August, and large numbers of larvae from August–September, while low numbers of all stages were collected during October. Haemaphysalis flava adults and nymphs were commonly collected from April–June and September–October, while large numbers of larvae were collected from July–August. Although fewer I. nipponensis were collected, seasonal developmental stage patterns followed those of H. flava. Similar proportions of males (47.96%) and females (52.04%) of H. flava were collected. However, the proportion of H. longicornis females (85.83%) collected was significantly higher than for males (14.17%), while the proportion of I. nipponensis males (57.62%) was significantly higher than for females (42.38%). Overall, the mean number of ticks collected/hour of collection was highest for forests+grasses (108.54), followed by grasses (97.28) and forests (66.64).
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