Ticks on the Channel Islands and implications for public health

Publication date: Available online 4 February 2020Source: Ticks and Tick-borne DiseasesAuthor(s): Emma L. Gillingham, Kayleigh M. Hansford, Scott Meadows, Julia Henney, Filip Wieckowski, Luis M. Hernández-Triana, Ivan Muscat, Joseph Muscat, Clara Beckert, Nadya I. Nikolova, Ben Cull, Jolyon M. MedlockAbstractThe Channel Islands are British Crown dependencies located in the English Channel to the west of the Normandy coast in northern France. Whilst there have been studies investigating tick occurrence and distribution in different habitats on the mainland of the UK and in France, the Channel Islands have been relatively understudied. As such, little is known about whether the sheep tick, Ixodes ricinus, is present, and whether there is a potential risk of Lyme borreliosis on the Channel Islands. To ascertain the presence of I. ricinus on the three largest islands in the archipelago: Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, surveys of ticks questing in the vegetation and ticks feeding on hosts were undertaken during April and May 2016. Across all three islands, the highest numbers of ticks were found in woodland habitats. Ixodes ricinus was the predominant questing tick species found on Jersey, and Ixodes ventalloi the most common questing tick species on Alderney and Guernsey, with little or no evidence of questing I. ricinus on either island. During field studies on small mammals, I. ricinus was the predominant tick species feeding on Jersey bank voles (Myodes glareolus caesarius), w...
Source: Ticks and Tick borne Diseases - Category: Zoology Source Type: research