DISEASE RELATIONS 



MAN: Reported seqiielae of the fowl argas* bite range from 

 itching to death. Actually, there are no trustworthy accounts 

 of severe illness resulting from a fowl argas bite. Anthrax 

 (Bacillus anthracis), however, has been transmitted to man by the 

 bite of this tick in the laboratory on one known occasion. Speci- 

 mens have been experimentally infected with pleigue (Past eure 11a 

 pestis) and with yellow fever virus. A. persicus has been reported 

 m textbooks and discussion papers to Transmit human relapsing 

 fever (Borrelia spp. ) but there does not appear to be a shred of 

 conclusive evidence to support this claim. Experimental studies 

 to date negate this possibility. The little work done on A. per- 

 sicus in relation to typhus has gone only far enough to show that 

 the etiologic agent (Rickettsia prowELzeld.i J survives in the tick 

 for ten days. The fowl tick is susceptible to parenteral infec- 

 tion with West Nile virus but does not transmit the virus, 



FOWIS: The fowl argas is frequently so numerous that birds 

 are killed by exseinguination. Spirochetosis / "Borrelia anserina 

 (= B. gallinarum ) ~} of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and canaries 

 is a serious disease transmitted by A, persicus nearly everywhere 

 that it is found, but not everywhereT Fowl piroplaismosis (Aegypt- 

 ianella ptillorum ) is also transmitted by the fowl argas, which also 

 has been suggested to be a vector of Grahamella gallinarum , A 

 condition called fowl paralysis by some students and tick paradysis 

 by others, due possibly to a toxin from the tick, sometimes occurs 

 after bites. Chicken cholera or fowl plague (Pasteurella avicida ). 

 may cause the death of birds that eat infected ticks, Virvis in- 

 duced fowl tumors are not transmitted by bites of the fowl argas. 

 See next paragraph. 



WIID BIRDS: Populations of this tick from Egyptian rookeries 

 of the bvtff-backed heron or cattle egret have been found infected 

 with Salnonella typhimurium , but others from chicken yards were 

 negative for Salmonella spp. 



CATTIE: Sticcessftil experimental transmission of anaplasmosis 

 (Anaplasma marginale ) by A, persicus has been reported. 



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