Abstract

SANTIAGO, Nava; CAPARROS, José A.; MANGOLD, Atilio J.  and  GUGLIELMONE, Alberto A.. Ticks (Acari: Ixodida: Argasidae, Ixodidae) infesting humans in Northwestern Córdoba province, Argentina. Medicina (B. Aires) [online]. 2006, vol.66, n.3, pp.225-228. ISSN 0025-7680.

Ticks infesting humans were collected from September 2004 to August 2005 in Northwestern Córdoba in an area with a southern limit in the locality of Dean Funes (30°25´S 64°20´W) and San José de las Salinas (30°00´S 64°37´W) in the North. The collections consisted in ticks found attached on man obtained from three sources: 1) specimens fixed on two workers during two successive days per month of field work in the northern part of the area which belongs to Western Chaco district of the phytogeographical Chaco domain, 2) ticks attached to a man working in a farm close to Dean Funes in the Chaco Serrano district of the Chaco domain and, 3) ticks collected from a collaborator visiting daily a suburban property with dogsin the vicinities of Dean Funes. Most ticks collected were larvae, nymphs and adults of Amblyomma neumanni from the Chaco Serrano district where a nymph of Otobius megnini was also found on man. Adults of Amblyomma parvum and Amblyomma tigrinum were detected feeding on humans in the Western Chaco district and in the property close to Dean Funes, respectively. Amblyomma neumanni was absent on man from December to April while most specimens of A. parvum and A. tigrinum were collected during summer. Their role as potential vector of ticktransmitted diseases in the area is unknown.

Keywords : Argasidae; Ixodidae; Humans; Córdoba; Argentina.

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