<strong>First survey of the hard tick (Acari: Ixodidae) fauna of Nakai District, Khammouane Province, Laos, and an updated checklist of the ticks of Laos</strong>

Abstract

From 2012 to 2014, tick collections for tick and tick-borne pathogen surveillance were carried out in two areas of Nakai District, Khammouane Province, Laos: the Watershed Management and Protection Authority (WMPA) area and Phou Hin Poun National Protected Area (PHP NPA). Throughout Laos, ticks and tickassociated pathogens are poorly known. Fifteen thousand and seventy-three ticks representing larval (60.72%), nymphal (37.86%) and adult (1.42%) life stages were collected. Five genera comprising at least 11 species, including three suspected species that could not be readily determined, were identified from 215 adult specimens: Amblyomma testudinarium Koch (10; 4.65%), Dermacentor auratus Supino (17; 7.91%), D. steini (Schulze) (7; 3.26%), Haemaphysalis colasbelcouri (Santos Dias) (1; 0.47%), H. hystricis Supino (59; 27.44%), H. sp. near aborensis Warburton (91; 42.33%), H. sp. near darjeeling Hoogstraal and Dhanda (5; 2.33%), H. sp. near lagrangei Larrousse (3; 1.4%), H. spp. (16; 7.45%), Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides (Supino) (5; 2.33%), and R. (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini) (1; 0.47%). These collections, together with the literature to date, provide evidence for the occurrence of at least 22 ixodid tick species, representing six genera, in Laos. Here we present new records for at least four tick species from WMPA area, Nakai District, Khammouane Province, where tick-borne pathogens may circulate. These preliminary results should serve as a framework for further molecular investigations of putative tick vectors and their pathogens in Laos.

Screening of ectoparasites from domesticated dogs for bacterial pathogens in Vientiane, Lao PDR

“…It is interesting that only Rh. sanguineus was identified, despite other studies identifying a greater diversity of species, although the majority of studies were in rural areas of Laos (Taylor et al, 2016;Vongphayloth, Brey, Robbins, & Sutherland, 2016). This observation could be explained by the fact that this species has outstanding adaptive capacity to human dwellings due to its close evolutionary relationship with the domestic dog (Gray, Dantas-Torres, Estrada-Pena, & Levin, 2013) from dogs in northern Laos (Kernif et al, 2012).…”

Large-Scale Survey for Tickborne Bacteria, Khammouan Province, Laos

“…We collected ticks in Nakai District, Khammouan Province, during the dry seasons (December–April) during 2012–2014, as previously described ( 4 ) ( Technical Appendix Figures 1, 2). A total of 6,692 ticks were pooled (n = 768 pools, 1–10 ticks/pool) according to genus, sex, developmental stage, collection period, and site.…”

Serum IgE against galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose is common in Laotian patients with snakebite envenoming but not the major trigger for early anaphylactic reactions to antivenom

“…All snakebite victims worked in agriculture and/or forestry, where they had been exposed to tick bites, which induce sIgE formation against α-gal possibly explaining the finding ( Commins et al, 2011 ). Although tick bites were not explicitly recorded, the presence of at least 22 ixodid tick species in Laos, representing six genera and the documented occurrence of tick-borne rickettsial disease, suggest that tick bites are very common among the rural population ( Vongphayloth et al, 2016 ; Mayxay et al, 2013 ). A similar high prevalence of sIgE against α-gal is found in forestry workers and hunters in the United States of America and in Germany ( Berg et al, 2014 ; Fischer et al, 2017b ).…”