Postdoctoral Fellow Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts
The highly invasive Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) is a major threat to human and animal health as a vector of emerging infectious diseases in the United States and Asia-Pacific. In the past decade this tick species was identified in China as transmitting a virus that causes a hemorrhagic disease in humans with a fatality rate up to 30%. In addition, this tick species has been implicated in the United States as transmitting the haemoprotozoan Theileria orientalis and causing oriental theileriosis disease in cattle. Worryingly, no effective control strategy for the Asian longhorned tick exists and its range has rapidly expanded to 17 states of the United States.
The white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) is the primary reservoir for the causative agent of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi). In the laboratory we placed unfed larval Asian longhorned ticks on the white-footed mouse, 65% of the larvae moved off the host within a short period of time and none attached. The tick larvae were also less likely to enter the hair of the whitefooted mouse and humans compared to the hair of domestic cats, domestic dogs, and white-tailed deer. This study provides biological insights to facilitate the development of tick repellents.
I have recently been investigating whether T. orientalis effects the fitness of Asian longhorned ticks (nymphs and adults) and potential anti-microbiota strategies. A better understanding of the fundamental biology of the Asian longhorned tick will help inform the development of novel tick control strategies.
