Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens in Domestic Animals, Wild Pigs, and Off-Host Environmental Sampling in Guam, USA.

ABSTRACT: Background: Guam, a United States of America (USA) island territory in the Pacific Ocean, is known to have large populations of ticks; however, it is unclear what the risk is to wildlife and humans living on the island. Dog (Canis familiaris), cat (Felis catus), and wild pig (Sus scrofa) sentinels were examined for ticks, and environmental sampling was conducted to determine the ticks present in Guam and the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in hosts. Methods and Results: From March 2019-November 2020, ticks were collected from environmental sampling, dogs, cats, and wild pigs. Blood samples were also taken from a subset of animals. A total of 99 ticks were collected from 27 environmental samples and all were Rhipicephalus sanguineus, the brown do

SUBMITTER: Weaver GV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8787080 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature