Ticks as Transmitters of Diseases

Abstract

MANY statements are found in medical works as to the local poisonous effects of tick bites, but these are of small importance compared with the diseases inoculated by ticks. Until a year or so ago ticks were only known to transmit one kind of disease, and this was confined to the lower animals. Of these diseases, “Texas “fever in cattle may be regarded as the type. These diseases, which are met with in cattle, horses, asses, sheep, and dogs, are due to parasites which attack the red cells of the blood. The parasites are characterised by their pear shape, and hence were originally called Pyrosoma; but this name has now generally been replaced by Piroplasma, and the infection by these parasites is known as piroplasmosis.