TICKS, MITES, FLEAS, &

LICE
Arthropode as vector
By Tri Wulandari K
TICK
Ticks, mite, spider and scorpion belong to the class Arachnida. Tick and
mite belong to Order Acarina. The important point that ticks differ
from mite in being larger and having toothed hypostome and not having
claws on the palps.

Morphology
Flatten dorsoventrally of body: capitulum and abdomen; Eyeless or
simple eye; Capitulum containing gnathosoma/mouthparts chelisera
(to cut/bite), hypostoma (to attack), palps (to support).

Important Family
1. Argasidae (soft tick)
Important species: Ornithodoros moubata
2. Ixodidae (hard tick)
Important genera: Ixodes, Dermacentor, Amblyomma.
Haemaphysalis, Hyalomma.
Argasidae (Soft tick)
Morphology :
Body: ovale, flatten dorsoventrally, integumen tough and leathery,
wrinkle and has tubercle, no scutum (dorsal shield) and capitulum
situated ventrally difficult to sexing. Legs: Nympha and adult: 4
pairs of leg; larvae: 3 pairs.
Male and female has coxal gland osmoregulatory function.
Female has Genes organ waxy secretion for eggs protection.
Respiratory: by spiracle/stigmata (located on the margin of the body,
behind the last pair of leg).

Life cycle (hemimetabolous: 6-12 months)
Eggs (300-500 eggs per laid) larvae nympha adult.
Larva, nympha and adult feed blood in many host (multihost ticks).
Adult: can live 15 years and 11 years without a blood meal.
Breeding place: crack, crevices of wall, floor or furniture, mud, dust
and debris, rodents hole, and sleeping place of wild animal and bird.

Medical importance of soft tick
As vector of tick borne relapsing fever
(caused by rickettsia Borrelia duttoni)
As vector of Q-fever (caused by
Coxiella burnetti)
Other viruses: 30 arboviruses has
known to be transmitted by ticks.
Transmission of tick borne
relapsing fever
Ingested rickettsia multiply in midgut of
ticks pass across into haemocoel,
multiply and spread in all tissue of ticks
body: salivary, coxal organ and ovaries.
Transmission: through saliva, excrete of
coxal organ, trans-ovarial (3-4 generation)
Ixodidae ticks (Hard ticks)
Morphology
Body :
ovale, flattened dorsoventrally (3-23 mm), there is
festoon (rectangular indentation on margin of
posterior abdomen) in Dermacentor,
Rhipicephalus, and Haemaphysalis,
sclerotisation of ventral body, capitulum situated
anteriorly, has no coxal gland.
Legs: adult and nympha : 4 pairs of leg; larvae 3
pairs
Mouth parts: club shape palps. Hypostome and
denticulate chelicera enter to the host body
Sex dimorphism: size of female > male; scutum
(dorsal plate) of male covered almost of doral
surface, whereas in female small, located
anteriorly: behind the capitulum.
capitulum
festoon
Life cycle (hemimetabolous)
Eggs (thousands eggs are laid 3-6 days after feed
blood, located on the top of female scutum)
larvae nympha adult
Larvae, nympha and adult stages feed blood for
long periods (1-4 weeks) on their host.
After feeding blood to the ground and seek
shelter under leaves, stone, debris, in the surface
root of grasses or scrub, or buries itself in the soil
questing (moulting and waiting for a suitable
passing host)
Life span: 7 years
Special behavior and habits of hard
ticks
Multi-host specifics transmission of the
disease.
Larvae & nympha stages more active on feeding
blood than adult.
Humidity of soil and vegetation can be important
factor in tick survival (not very dry and not very
wet soil is suitable condition)
3 types of host specifics :
3 Host (L- N- A) Ixodes, Dermacentor, Rhipicephalus,
Haemaphysalis
2 Host (L,N - A) Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus
1 Host (L,N,A) Boophylus
Note: L=larvae; N=nympha; D=adult; -= different
host; ,=same host
Medical Importance of hard ticks
Tick paralysis
By biting of Dermacentor, Ixodes and Amblyomma
The symptoms appear 5-7 days after biting (paralysis of
motor nerves): acute legs paralysis ascending cannot walk
or stand, difficult in speaking, swallowing and breathing
recovery in a few weeks or death.

As vector of Arboviruses
Russian Spring-Summer Encephalitis (I. persulcatus, H.
concinna)
Tick Borne Encephalitis (I. ricinus, D. marginatus,
Haemaphysalis sp)
Omsk Haemorrhagic Fever (Dermacentor, Ixodes)
Kyasanur Forest Disease (H. spinigera)
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (Hyalomma marginatum,
D. marginatus)
MITES
There are 2 important Families
Sarcoptidae & Trombiculidae

SARCOPTIDAE
Important species is Sarcoptes scabiei
causes scabies (have discussed in
SENSORY BLOCK)

Trombiculidae (scrub typhus mite)
Parasitic stage
larvae also called red bugs/chiggers/scrub typhus mite.
Morphology :
size : larvae 0,5-1mm; adult 1-2 mm, capitulum situation anteriorly.
(A) : 4 pairs of leg, covered with red feathered hairs velvety
apparence.
(L) : 3 pairs of leg, reddish/orange/ pale yellow, covered with many long
hair.
Dorso-anterior: pentagonal/rectangular scutum with 306 setae and a pair
of eyes.
Life cycle
Eggs (4-7 days) deutovum (ovum containing larvae) (5-7 days)
larvae deutnympha trithonympha (adult)
Larvae becomes very active, climb up grasses and suck the lymphatics
fluid of rodents, birds and human.
Preference site : soft and moist skin (ears, genitalia, around anus)
Life span usually 40-75 days, but may be 8-10 months

Medical importance of scrub typhus mite
Nuisance
Intense irritating and itching due to its biting (harvest bug
itch, autumnal itch, scrub itch)
Neotrombicula autumnalis, Eutrombicula alfredugesi

As vector of Scrub typhus
Also called mite borne typhus, Japanese river fever,
chigger borne rickettsiosis, tsutsugamushi disease
Caused by Rickettsia tsutsugamushi
Vector : Leptotrombidium deliensis, L. akamushi, L.
fletcheri
Transmission the disease was very close association
between: Leptotrombidium mite wild rodents
vegetation R. tsutsugamushi.
FLEAS
(Siphonaptera)
There are 2500 species, 94% biting mammalia (including human)
Worldwide distribution, some species centered at several area.

Morphology :
Body: Relatively small (1-4 mm); Colour: light dark brown,
compressed laterally; Absent of wing, 3 pairs of legs (third legs
for jump); almost all of the body covered with bristle and small
spines.
Head: triangular, black or eyeless, 3 segments antennae which lie
in the sulcus behind the eyes. Suckingblood type of mouthparts
which point downwards. There is genal combs or combless.
Thorax : 3 segments: pro-meso-metathorax ; there is pronotal
combs or combless. Xenopsylla sp. mesopleuron was devided
into 2 by meral rod.
Abdomen : Sexing: The tip of abdomen of female more rounded
than male and there is spermatheca in female. It is not important
to distinguish of both sexes all suck blood important in
transmission of the disease.
Specific Morphology: The available of bulbous proventriculus
which provided internally to prevent the regurgitation of blood meal
into oesophagus this organ is important in the mechanism of
plague transmission.
Life cycle of Flea
eggs (in crack, crevious, debris floor) (2-4 days)
larvae (2-3 moulting) pupae (7-14 days) adult
Medical importance of flea
Flea nuisance
Cat and dog flea (Ctenocephalides felis and. Ct. canis),
Human flea (Pulex irritans),
Chicken flea (Ceratophyllus sp.)
Tunga penetrans (tungiasis)
Vector of Plague
Xenopsylla cheopis, X. astia, X.brasiliensis, Pulex irritans
Vector of Endemic typhus
X. cheopis, Nosopsyllus fasciatus, Ct. felis, Ct. canis, P.
irritans.
Intermediate host of Cestode
Xenopsylla sp., Nosopsyllus sp. H. diminuta, D. caninum, may H.
nana
Vector of other disease (minute)
Tularemia (Francisella tularensis), Rickettsia conori, Coxiella
burnetti.
FLEA AND THE DISEASE
Plague
The disease
caused by Pastuerella
pestis also called Yersinia
pestis or Bacillus pestis,
transmitted by Fleas
biting,
the main host is Rodents
especially rats
See more information about
plague in Textbook of Microbiology
Pattern transmission of plague by flea
Plague bacilli sucked up by blood meal
pass to the stomach and multiplication
in there
extend towards to invade the
proventriculus blocking function of
proventriculus regurgitating plague
bacilli from previous feed infect to the
new host by direct contamination from the
fleas mouthparts.
Partially regurgitation makes fleas
becomes starved soon get blood
meal transmission
Contact between contaminated fleas
faeces with mucosa surface or abrasions
skin. (Infected flea can remain bacilli as
long as 3 years).
Inhalation of droplets (in pneumonic
plague: human to human, insect are not
involved)
FLEA AND THE DISEASE
Endemic Typhus
Also called murine typhus ; caused by
Rickettsia typhi (mooseri).

In this disease: multiplication of bacteria
occurs in intestinum of flea, but not cause
blocking of proventriculus infection only
through direct contact between
contaminated faeces of flea and crashing
skin or mucose surface. (dry contaminated
faeces can remain infected 4-9 years).
Order Anoplura (Pthiraptera): LICE
There are 3 types if human lice:
Pediculus humanus capitis
Pediculus humanus corporis
Pthyrus pubis

Only Pediculus humanus corporis can
transmit the disease)
Morphology
Body:
small, greyish, wingless insect. Flattened dorso-ventrally
body, with soft leathery integument.
Legs: 3 pair of legs
Mouthparts: flexible almost tube-like mouth
(haustellum)
Sex differentiation: female: bifurcatio; male: rounded

Life Cycle (hemimetabolous)
Eggs (called nit) (6-9 per day, firmly on hairs of bady or
clothes)(7-10 days) nymph (7-12 days) adult
Life span of female is 1 month (laid 200-300 eggs)
Nymph and adult take blood meal at day and night
Spreading direct contact with infested clothes
Medical importance of body lice
Pediculosis
Repeated injected saliva of lice to
harbouring person toxic effects:
weariness, irritability, pessimistic mood,
feel lousy.
Large numbers of body lice infestation
vagabonds disease (pigmented and
tough skin)
Allergies
As vector of
Louse borne typhus/ epidemic typhus
(Rickettsia prowazeki)
Trench fever (Rickettsia quintana)
Louse borne relapsing fever (Borrelia
recurrentis)
Feeding Behavior and Transmission of
Disease
Lice are attracted to the host by warmth and
odours.
They are permanent ectoparasites, capillary
feeders who suck blood about every 23 hours.
The ingested blood is stored and digested in
midgut, followed by the hindgut.
The saliva causes itching and the resulting
scratches secondary bacterial infections. Louse
feces induces the first irritations.
Only P. h. corporis can transmit the disease
(experimental is possible using Phthirus pubis).

Epidemic typhus and louse borne
relapsing fever
Classical epidemic typhus (caused by Rickettsia prowazekii )
transmitted only among humans by pathogens present in the deposited
feces
These pathogens invade through skin lesions or are inhalated.
The pathogens are infective in the faeces for up to three months.

Interaction of Vector and Parasite
If the lice suck blood within the first ten days of illness, R. prowazekii is
transmitted and multiplies in the lumen of the gut and also in the cells of
the intestinal wall.
R. prowazekii is pathogenic to lice due to the destruction of gut cells. In
the other bacterial infections no pathogenic effects are reported.

Borrelia recurrentis invades the haemocoel of the insect about four
days after ingestion, slowly multiplying there.