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Biography
: This article is about the tick. For the band, see Deer Tick (band) . italictitleTaxobox| name = Ixodes scapularis | image = Adult deer tick.jpg | regnum = Animal ia | phylum = Arthropod a | classis = Arachnid a | subclassis = Acari | superordo = Parasitiformes | ordo = Tick|Ixodida | familia = Ixodidae | genus = Ixodes | species = I. scapularis | binomial = Ixodes scapularis | binomial_authority = Thomas Say|Say , 1821 | range_map = Ixodes scapularis range map.svg Ixodes scapularis is commonly known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick (although some people reserve the latter term for Ixodes pacificus , which is found on the West Coast of the USA), and in some parts of the USA as the bear tick Cite book |last=Drummond |first=Roger |title=Ticks and What You Can Do about Them |edition=3rd |pages=23 |place=Berkeley, California |publisher= Wilderness Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-89997-353-1. It is a hard-bodied tick (family Ixodidae ) of the eastern and northern Midwestern United States . It is a Vector (epidemiology)|vector for several diseases of animals, including humans ( Lyme disease , babesiosis , Human granulocytic anaplasmosis|anaplasmosis , etc) and is known as the deer tick due to its habit of parasitizing the white-tailed deer .
Description
When the deer tick has consumed a blood meal its abdomen will be a light grayish-blue color, whereas the tick itself is chiefly black. In identifying an engorged tick it is helpful to concentrate on the legs and upper part of the body.
Behavior
I. scapularis has a two-year life cycle, during which time it passes through three stages: larva, nymph, and adult. The tick must take a blood meal at each stage before maturing to the next. Deer tick females latch onto a host and drink its blood for four to five days. After it is engorged, the tick drops off and Overwintering|overwinters in the leaf litter of the forest floor. The following spring, the female lays several hundred to a few thousand eggs in clusters.Cite book |last=Suzuki |first=David |last2=Grady |first2=Wayne |title=Tree: A Life Story |place=Vancouver |publisher= Greystone Books |year=2004|pages=110|isbn=1-55365-126-X Transtadial (between tick stages) passage of Borrelia burgdorferi is common. Vertical passage (from mother to egg) of Borrelia is uncommon.
Ticks are very hardy creatures and I. scapularis is no exception. Expect them to be active even after a moderate to severe frost , as daytime temperatures can warm them enough to keep them actively searching for a host. In the spring, they can be one of the first invertebrates to become active. Deer ticks can be quite numerous and seemingly gregarious in areas where they are found.
As disease vector
Ixodes scapularis is the main Vector (epidemiology)|vector of Lyme disease in North America .Cite journal |last=Brownstein |first=John S. |last2=Holford|first2=Theodore R.|last3=Fish|first3=Durland|title=Effect of Climate Change on Lyme Disease Risk in North America |journal= EcoHealth |year=2005|volume=2|pages=38–46 |doi=10.1007/s10393-004-0139-x |pmid=19008966 |issue=1 |pmc=2582486 It can also transmit other Borrelia species, including Borrelia miyamotoi .Cite news | last = McNeil | first = Donald | title = New Tick-Borne Disease Is Discovered | newspaper = The New York Times | pages = D6 | language = English| date = 19 September 2011 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/health/20tick.html| accessdate = 20 September 2011
Ixodes ticks also can transmit Ehrlichia , a gram-negative obligate intracellular bacteria that is responsible for Ehrlichiosis .
Ticks that transmit Borrelia burgdorferi to humans can also carry and transmit several other parasites, such as Theileria microti and Anaplasma phagocytophilum , which cause the diseases babesiosis and human granulocytic anaplasmosis , respectively.cite journal |author=Steere AC |title=Lyme disease |journal= New England Journal of Medicine |volume=345 |issue=2 |pages=115–25 |year=2001 |month=July |pmid=11450660 |doi=10.1056/NEJM200107123450207 Among early Lyme disease patients, depending on their location, 2%–12% will also have HGA and 2%–40% will have babesiosis.cite journal |author=G. P. Wormser |title=Clinical practice. Early Lyme disease |journal= New England Journal of Medicine |volume=354 |issue=26 |pages=2794–801 |year=2006 |month=June |pmid=16807416 |doi=10.1056/NEJMcp061181 |url=
Co-infections complicate Lyme symptoms, especially diagnosis and treatment. It is possible for a tick to carry and transmit one of the co-infections and not Borrelia , making diagnosis difficult and often elusive. The Centers for Disease Control 's emerging infectious diseases department did a study in rural New Jersey of 100 ticks, and found 55% of the ticks were infected with at least one of the pathogens.cite journal |author=Varde S, Beckley J, Schwartz I |title=Prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes scapularis in a rural New Jersey County |journal= Emerging Infectious Diseases |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=97–99 |year=1998 |pmid=9452402 |url= http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol4no1/varde.htm |doi=10.3201/eid0401.980113 |pmc=2627663
See also
Ticks of domestic animals
References
reflist|2
See also
Andrew Spielman
External links
http://pestworld.org/Pest-Health-Threats/Specific-Pest-Health-Threats Information on Tick-Related Health Threats and http://pestworld.org/For-Consumers/Pest-Guide/Pest/Blacklegged-Deer-Ticks Deer Tick Fact Sheet from the National Pest Management Association
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/medical/deer_tick.htm blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis on the University of Florida|UF / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences|IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
http://www.metapathogen.com/tick/ Ixodes scapularis , black-legged tick, deer tick overview as a vector for Lyme disease, developmental stages at MetaPathogen
http://iscapularis.vectorbase.org/index.php Ixodes scapularis genome sequence at VectorBase
Please read to protect yourself from Deer ticks that may cause Lyme disease. http://www.mass.gov/Eeohhs2/docs/dph/cdc/factsheets/lyme.pdf
Tick-borne diseases Category:Ixodes|scapularis Category:Arachnids of North America Category:Animals described in 1821 Category:Sequenced genomes
