On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 19:06:29 +0200, Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 20:21:15 +0100, Whitedog
wrote:

On Sat, 18 Jun 2005 19:41:57 +0200, Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

Does anybody know which diseases are transmitted by African
ticks?

I have references for 2.
African tick bite fever (very common in sub equatorial Africa)
Congo fever (http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/mmi/stannard/bob.html)

Whitedog, Pat, Corné,

thanks for your replies! Always learning. For example, the web
site you cited explains that pepper ticks are actually larvae or
nymphs of the bigger tick species, not separate species. Does
anybody know more about this?

I knew I'd seen a better page on tick life cycles somewhere! A bit of
digging with google found the good old WHO page

http://www.who.int/docstore/water_sa...ntrol/ch26.htm

While researching this a bit, I found one very simple defense
against ticks. Just pull your socks over your trousers when
you're near high grass. A strong, poisonous insect repellant
sprayed on the socks and lower trouser legs also helps.

I've seen domestic dogs absolutely covered in immature ticks and it's
really unpleasant for them, sometimes they can provoke an immune
system reaction which will make them very ill. I took anti tick
treatments out to zanzibar for my friend's dogs last trip, I'm sure
they appreciated it! The humans in contact seemed to be ok though.
Viral infections rely on certain host species being carriers and I'm
guessing zanzibar goats and dogs are free of the sort of viruses which
affect humans.
Fascinating subject parasites, I can't get enough of them!

Brent.
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