Review of the Disease Agents Harbored and Transmitted by the Lone Star Tick, 'Amblyomma americanum' (L.)

摘要

Scientific literature pertaining to the disease agents associated with Amblyomma Americanum was reviewed. Studies indicated that A. americanum is clearly involved in the transmission of tularemia to man and animals, and the transmission of Theileria cervi to white-tailed deer. The relationships of other etiologic agents with A. americanum are not so clear. The Lone Star tick is reported to be a vector of Rocky mountain spotted fever but current opinions are to the contrary. Evidence incriminated A. americanum as the vector of Bullis fever in the 1940's but the disease has apparently disappeared. Lyme disease and Q fever organisms have been found in unfed A. americanum but the vector potential is poorly understood at this time. Typhus fever and toxoplasmosis have been experimentally studied in the Lone Star tick, and several nonpathogenic organisms have been recovered. Future implications of these tick-disease relationship are discussed.