Active surveillance to update county scale distribution of four tick species of medical and veterinary importance in Oklahoma
Date
2017-06Author
Mitcham, Jessica R.
Barrett, Anne W.
Gruntmeir, Jeff M.
Holland, Taylor
Martin, Jaclyn E.
Johnson, Eileen M.
Little, Susan E.
Noden, Bruce H.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The incidence of tick-borne disease continues to increase in humans and companion animals in the United States, yet distribution maps for several tick vectors in Oklahoma, including Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor albipictus, Ixodes scapularis, and Amblyomma maculatum, are not available or are outdated. To address this issue, county-scale tick records from peer-reviewed literature and passive collections were reviewed for Oklahoma. Additionally, dry ice traps, tick drags, and harvested deer were utilized to actively collect adult ticks throughout the state. Through these methods, D. variabilis, D. albipictus, I. scapularis, and A. maculatum were identified in 88% (68/77), 45.4% (35/77), 66.2% (51/77), and 64.9% (50/77) of the counties in Oklahoma, respectively. Baseline maps were developed for the distribution of D. variabilis and D. albipictus and distribution maps were updated for I. scapularis and A. maculatum. This data confirms that these four species of ticks continue to be widespread within Oklahoma with a western expansion of the range of I. scapularis within the state. These results assist efforts to better understand the epidemiology of the different diseases caused by pathogens transmitted by these tick species within the Great Plains region.
Citation
Mitcham, J. R., Barrett, A. W., Gruntmeir, J. M., Holland, T., Martin, J. E., Johnson, E. M., ... Noden, B. H. (2017). Active surveillance to update county scale distribution of four tick species of medical and veterinary importance in Oklahoma. Journal of Vector Ecology, 42(1), pp. 60-73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvec.12240