Ticks: Important Examples of Hard Ticks

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The page below is a sample from the LabCE course Arthropods and the Clinical Laboratory. Access the complete course and earn ASCLS P.A.C.E.-approved continuing education credits by subscribing online.

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Ticks: Important Examples of Hard Ticks

Important ticks in the US:
Hard Ticks as vectors
  • Ixodes: Deer tick or black-legged tick, vector of Lyme disease
    • Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificusticks may carry the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi
  • Dermacentor: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (ticks carry the spirochete bacteria Rickettsia rickettsii)
    • Dermacentor variabilis, D. andersoni: Francisella tularensis (tularemia), as well as rickettsii.
    • D. andersoni: Colorado fever virus
  • Amblyomma: Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (ticks carry the spirochete bacteria Rickettsia rickettsii)
    • Amblyomma americanum: Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Ehrlichia ewingii, and E. chaffeensis (ehrlichiosis)
The two images are examples of Ixodes and Dermacentor ticks. Note: Many other ticks exist in the US and worldwide. Additional subject material would prove exhaustive and beyond the scope of this course.
9. CDC. Image# 14473. "This photograph depicts a left lateral view of a deer tick, or black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, as it was questing on a blade of grass. The Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, is spread through the bite of infected ticks. The black-legged tick spreads the disease in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and northcentral United States, while the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, spreads the disease on the Pacific Coast." PHIL public domain. https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=14473
10. CDC/ J Gathany. Image# 10866. "This photograph depicts a dorsal view of a female Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. This tick species is a known North American vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, which is the etiologic agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF)." PHIL public domain. Created 2008. https://phil.cdc.gov/Details.aspx?pid=10866

Lateral view of a deer tick (or blacklegged tick) Ixodes scapularis. (9)
Dorsal view of a female Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. (10)