Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens from Wild Pigs in Northern and Central Florida.

ABSTRACT: Invasive wild pigs are distributed across much of the U.S. and are hosts to tick vectors of human disease. Herein, adult ticks were collected from 157 wild pigs in 21 northern and central Florida counties from 2019-2020 during removal efforts by USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services personnel and evaluated for their potential to be used as a method of tick-borne disease surveillance. Collected ticks were identified, screened for pathogens, and the effects of landscape metrics on tick community composition and abundance were investigated. A total of 1415 adult ticks of four species were collected. The diversity of tick species collected from wild pigs was comparable to collections made throughout the state with conventional surveillance methods. All species collected have implications for pathogen t

SUBMITTER: Mays Maestas SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10380241 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature