New strategies for controlling ticks

Ticks and the diseases they transmit are widely distributed throughout the world, particularly in tropical and subtropical countries. Ticks transmit numerous rickettsial, spirochetal, protozoan and viral pathogens to humans, many of which can produce fatal or debilitating infections. The importance of ticks in animal health and production lies in the enormous economic losses they cause by transmitting a wide variety of pathogens and by direct damage to their hosts. In addition, most livestock-parasitizing tick species are also capable of transmitting disease agents to man. In the developing world, the losses from ticks and tick-borne diseases are not merely economic. In many areas, malnourished people are deprived of animal protein and fat needed to increase their resistance to debilitating infectious diseases.