Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-13T08:14:18.747Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some effects of irradiation on the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

R. E. Purnell ,
J. D. Dargie ,
B. Gilliver ,
A. D. Irvin  and
M. A. Ledger
R. E. Purnell
Affiliation:
Immunological research on tick-borne cattle diseases and tick control project, EAVRO, Muguga, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
J. D. Dargie
Affiliation:
Immunological research on tick-borne cattle diseases and tick control project, EAVRO, Muguga, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
B. Gilliver
Affiliation:
Immunological research on tick-borne cattle diseases and tick control project, EAVRO, Muguga, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
A. D. Irvin
Affiliation:
Immunological research on tick-borne cattle diseases and tick control project, EAVRO, Muguga, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
M. A. Ledger
Affiliation:
Immunological research on tick-borne cattle diseases and tick control project, EAVRO, Muguga, P.O. Kabete, Kenya
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Groups of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks were given single doses of irradiation (range 0·25–16 krad) at different stages in their life-cycle: unfed nymphs, engorged nymphs, moulting nymphs and unfed adults. The effects of irradiation were assessed by evaluating the subsequent performances of the ticks when fed on rabbits. Observations were carried through until the viability of egg batches from surviving females had been recorded.Irradiation of unfed and engorged nymphs produced similar effects on the ticks, whilst irradiation of moulting nymphs and adults produced effects which were different from those produced on the other two groups but similar to each other.Ticks were in general unaffected at irradiation doses below 2 krad, but at this level and above, survival rates, mean engorged weights, percentage egg weights and viability of eggs were reduced, and feeding times were extended.Male ticks appeared to be more susceptible to the effects of irradiation than female ticks. Males irradiated at 4 krad were sterile, but since they survived doses considerably higher than this they might well prove suitably competitive in further trials should a sterile male release be considered feasable.The possibility is also considered of irradiating Theileria parva parasites in ticks and thus altering the parasites in some way that could be used in studies of immunisation of cattle against East Coast fever.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , June 1972 , pp. 429 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramov, I. V, & Duranov, V. S., (1965). Effect of ionizing radiation on Babesia ovis — the etiologieal agent of sheep babesiellosis. Progress in Protozoology. Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Protozoology, London, 1965, pp. 178–9.Google Scholar
Anon. (1968). Annual Report of the East African Veterinary Research Organisation, 1966–67, p. 28.Google Scholar
Bailey, K. P., (1960). Notes on the rearing of Rhipicephalits appendiculatus and their infection with Theileria parva for experimental transmission Bulletin of Epizootic Diseases of Africa 8, 33–4.Google Scholar
Chakhmatov, G. N., (1969). Etude de l'action des rayons ionisants sur les agents de la nuttalliose des souris et de la theileriose des bovides. Progress in Protozoology. Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Protozoology, Leningrad, 1969, pp.254–5.Google Scholar
Cunningham, M. P., Brown, C. G. D., Purnell, R. E., Musoke, A. J., Burridge, M. J., & Dargie, J. D., (1970). Immunisation against East Coast fever. Some effects of irradiation on the infective stage of Theileria parva harvested from infected ticks. Journal of Parasitology. 56, 60.Google Scholar
Drummond, R. O., Medley, J. G., & Graham, O. H., (1966). Engorgement and reproduction of lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum (L.)) treated with gamma-radiation. International Journal of Radiation Biology 10, 183–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Galun, R., Warburg, M., & Avivi, A., (1967). Studies on the application of the sterility method in the tick Ornithodores tholozani Entomologic experimentalis et applicata 10, 143–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sidorov, V. E., & Grokhovskaya, I. M., (1964). The effect of X-rays on adult Hyalomma asiaticum. Meditsinskaya parazitologiya i parazitarnye bolezni 33, 560–3.Google Scholar