Rapid Discovery and Detection of Haemaphysalis longicornis through the Use of Passive Surveillance and Collaboration: Building a State Tick-Surveillance Network.

Rebecca Trout Fryxell ,Samantha Beaty,Jennie Z Ivey,Sterling Daniels,John J Schaefer,Daniel M Grove,Richard W Gerhold,James W Mertins,Dené N Vann,James D Freye,Joy Sweaney,Roger D Applegate,Jennifer G Chandler,Micah P Willis,Heidi M Wyrosdick,Kevin W Thompson,Douglas Balthaser,Denise L Bonilla,Dave Paulsen ,Rebecca Butler ,Kevin K Lahmers

doi:10.3390/ijerph18157980

Abstract

Between March 2019 and February 2020, Asian long-horned ticks (Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, 1901) were discovered and collected for the first time in one middle and seven eastern Tennessee counties, facilitated by a newly developed passive and collaborative tick-surveillance network. Network collaborators included federal, state, county, university, and private resource personnel working with companion animals, livestock, and wildlife. Specimens were collected primarily from dogs and cattle, with initial detections of female adult stage ticks by stakeholders associated with parasitology positions (e.g., entomologists and veterinary parasitologists). Initial county tick detections were confirmed with morphological and molecular identifications, and then screened for the presence of animal-associated pathogens (Anaplasma marginale, Babesia species, Ehrlichia species, and Theileria orientalis), for which all tests were negative. Herein, we describe the identification and confirmation of these tick specimens as well as other results of the surveillance collaboration.

Highlights

Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann 1901, the Asian long-horned tick, is an invasive and exotic tick species in North America, an indirect human health threat, and a menace to livestock, companion animals, and wildlife [1]
Our study does not present data directly supporting this statement, we speculate that participants who collected many ticks and submitted numerous samples are likely to be those with a greater direct interest in the study [36], and that personnel working at animal shelters and community scientists had a greater interest in removing ticks from animals due to concerns about their animal’s health and welfare
Initial county detections of H. longicornis were largely traceable to animal shelters grooming tick-infested dogs (Table 2); we propose dogs presenting to animal shelters can help with future invasive-tick-species surveillance

Summary

Introduction

Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann 1901, the Asian long-horned tick, is an invasive and exotic tick species in North America, an indirect human health threat, and a menace to livestock, companion animals, and wildlife [1]. In geographic areas where H. longicornis has invaded, expanded, and proliferated (e.g., New Zealand), exotic and established tick populations can become hyperintense, where thousands of ticks can be found parasitizing a single animal as displayed on a pet sheep in New Jersey [4] and potentially causing tick-infested livestock to become quickly anemic [3,5]. Investigators in Virginia determined field-collected H. longicornis were infected with the Theileria orientalis Ikeda genotype and demonstrated that study ticks were competent experimental vectors for the Ikeda strain of the pathogen in local cattle [7,8,9,10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion