In the final semester of my Graduation degree, I prepared research based on collective information about exclusive ticks of the Asian continent. love to share it with you.

1. Ticks Of Asia: A Pathologic Aspect
• Presented by:- Kaushik Dutta
• Roll No.:- 2116247-180152
• Regn No.:- 076325
• Paper:- Parasitology
• Department of Zoology
Sripat Singh College
University of Kalyani

2. • Overview of Ticks
• Ticks are large mites with leathery skin.
• In general they are parasitics and feed on
Vertebrate Blood.
• They possess 5 years or more lifespan.
• Reproductive potential is high.
• They are classified into two groups on the
basis of the difference present in body
proper:-
1. Soft Tick (Family:- Argasidae)
2. Hard Tick (Family:- Ixodidae) Fig:- Tick(Dorsal View)

3. • General morphology of Ticks
• Body is divided into two regions:-
1. The Capitulum
2. The broad body proper.
• The mouth parts include 3 types of structure:-
1. Ventral to the mouth is toothed, elongated hypostoma, its
free end projects anteriorly.
2. A pair of chelicerae located on the dorsal surface of
hypostoma. It’s free terminal end is forked. This works as piercing,
tearing and anchoring structure.
3. A pair of palpi or pedipalpi arises from the anteroventral
margin of the basis capitulum. It works as counter anchors when
tick attached to the host.
4 pairs of legs, each is divided into 6 segments.
. The genital orifice is located on the mid line between the 1st
and 2nd pairs of legs. Anus, ventrally located.
Fig:- (A) Dorsal View,
(B) Left, Right, Dorsal
and Ventral view

4. • Geographical distribution and habitat of Ticks
• Ticks occur on every continent and are even
found in Marine colonies of Seabirds across the
northern and Southern hemisphere.
• Especially for Asia, hard and soft ticks dominates
India, pakistan, Bhutan,China, Taiwan,
Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Korea exclusively.
Fig:- Tick dominated regions of Asia

5. • Asian Ticks
• Ticks can be found covering every corner of
Asia...
• The tick species that dominates Asia are:-
1. Hard bodied (Ixodidae family)
a) Amblyomma
b) Rhipicephalus
c) Hyalomma
d) Ixodes
e) Longhorned
f) Dermacentor
2. Soft bodied (Argasidae family)
a) Argas
b) Ornithodoros

6. Hard Bodied
A) Amblyomma:- Amblyomma species are hard bodied ticks wide spread on
domestic animals throughout tropical and subtropical regions.
Ex:- A. Testudinarium, A. Gervaisi
B) Rhipicephalus:- Rhipicephalus is a genus of Ticks in the family Ixodidae,
the hard ticks, consisting of about 74 to 75 species. Most are native to
tropical Africa.
Ex:- R. Microplus, R. Sanguineus
C) Hyalomma:- They are common in Asia, Europe, Africa. Greek: hyalos
crystal, glass and omma eyes. It is originated from Iran or the southern part
of the former Soviet Union and spread into Asia, Europe, Africa.
Ex:- H. Brevipunctata
D) Ixodes:- Ixodes can spread tick-borne disease to animals and humans
and some species inject toxins that can cause paralysis.
Ex:- I. persulcatus, I. ceylonensis

7. E) Haemaphysalis:- They are typically parasitic belonging to the family Ixodidae.
They may cause serious Tick-Borne disease in human.
Ex:- H. Longicornis
F) Dermacentor:- Hard tick of family Ixodidae. This genus has a cosmopolitan
distribution, with native on all continents. Most occur in the Nearctic realm.
Ex:- D. auratus
Soft Bodied
A) Argas:- Typical soft bodied tick. Primarily they can be found on domestic
fowl such chicken, ducks etc.
Ex:- A. persicus
B) Ornithodoros:- It is a genus in the soft-bodied tick family, Argasidae. The
name is derived from ornithos and doros meaning “bird” and “gift”,
respectively.
Ex:- A. sawaii, A. madagascariensis

8. • Tick borne disease: exclusively in Asia
• Ixodes:-
1. Lime disease, 2. Relapsing fever, 3. Babesiosis, 4. Kyasanur Forest disease, Tasmanian
Paralysis etc.
• Dermacentor:-
1. Tick borne spotted fever, 2. Babesiosis, 3. Tularemia etc.
• Haemaphysalis:-
1. Theileriosis, 2. Lyme borreliosis, 3. Syberian Tick Typhus, 4. Far-Eastern spotted fever,
5. Russian spring-summer Encephalitis.
• Hyalomma:-
1. Rickettsias, 2. Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, 3. Boutonneuse fever, 4. Q fever.
• Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus:-
Amblyomma:- Rocky mountain spotted fever.
Rhipicephalus:- East coast fever, Anaplasmosis, Can paralyse by neurotoxin etc.
• Ornithodoros and Argas:-
1. Tick borne relapsing fever, 2. Paralytic disease of streaked shearwater and Swinhoe’s strom
petrel seabirds, 3. Avian spirochaetosi etc.

9. Why should we worry about Ticks
• Ticks are responsible for spreading potential life
threating infectious disease.
• Ticks can cause disease of livestocks and effect
production of meat, eggs and milk.
• Some ticks can trigger chills, nausea, fever,
neurological problems and even death.
• We should aware of what ticks look like, where
they camp out, and what to do if one latches onto
us.
• Now a days tick borne diseases are rising rapidly.
• Till now we don’t have proper treatment and
medicine.

10. • Trends of Tick Borne diseases in Asia
1. Ehrlichiosis:- 1 subclinical case and 6 clinically ill case of infection
were reported in Venezuela in 1996 and 2000, respectively.
2. Anaplasmosis:- Zoonotic infection causing human granulocytic
anaplasmosis were reported in Thailand in 2001.
3. Hepatozoonosis:- 1.2% population in Malaysia and 4.54% to 36% in
Thailand. On study of 308 dogs and 300 cats from 42 Bangkok
metropolitan district found 36.6% of dogs and 36.8% of cats were
infected.
4. Babesiosis:- 70 in Thailand, 71 in Malaysia, 4 in Singapore, 69 in
Philippines. First case reported in Bangkok in 1971.
5. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS):- First
reported in China in 2009. In 2010, China reported 71 cases, in 2016
the cases was 2600. First case appeared in Japan and South Korea in
2013. 36 reported in South Korea in 2013 and 270 reported in 2017.

11. • Control of Ticks
1. General control:-
a) Insecticidal control:- Use of Chlorodane, dieldrin, lindane, malathion and toxaphane
at rate of 1 to 2lbs per acre.
b) Environment control:- Cracks and crevice in ground should be filled.
c) Protection of workers:- Workers should were protective clothing impregnated with
an inset repellant.
2. Cultural and Biological control:- Destruction of Ticks’ microhabitats to reduce
abundance. It can be achieved by reducing their host. Predators can remove free living
ticks by eating them.
3. Chemical control:-Usage of Acaricides against free living Ticks. Pyrethroids including
fipronil, permethrin products are effective ectoparasiticide.
4. Vaccines

12. • Concluding Remarks
Generally hard bodied ticks are common in India.
Hayalomma, Rhipicephalus species are found in almost every
state.
They causes major tick borne diseases like Kyasanur
Forest Disease, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Lyme-
disease, Q fever, Rickettsial infections which can be the cause
of many serious health problems and even death.
The cost of controlling Tick Borne Diseases in India has
been estimated as US$ 498.7 million/annum.
At last, thanks to Science for developing medicines and
vaccines as major prevention against Tick Borne Diseases
which may help saving many lives and livestock health.

13. • Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my
project guide Dr. Sajal Kr. Dey sir who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project of “Ticks of Asia: A
Pathologic Aspect”, who also help me in completing my project.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to the principal Dr.
Samsuzzaman Ahmed sir and other teachers of my department
for providing me with all the facility that was required.
And finally I would like to thank my family and friends for their
kind support and encouragement which helped me to do this
project with the given time frame.
Dated:- 31/07/2021 Kaushik Dutta
(Bsc. Honours 6th Semester)

14. Thank
you