Zirga Virus, a New Arbovirus isolated from Bird-infesting Ticks

Abstract

IN October 1968, the Department of Entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine received from the Chief Medical Officer of the British Petroleum Company Ltd, two nymphs of an argasid tick. They were collected from the island of Zirqa (Zarrakkuh) (24°53′N, 53°04′E) off the coast of Abu Dhabi in the Persian Gulf and were associated with ground-nesting ospreys (Pandion h. haliaetus) and Socotra cormorants (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) which appear on the island towards the end of August and remain till early February. The island is barren and uninhabited by humans. Abu Dhabi Marine Areas Limited (ADMA) have a radiomast and generator on the island and ADMA personnel make regular visits for routine maintenance of the plant. Local fishermen also visit the island from time to time. Attention was drawn to the presence of ticks when personnel were bitten by them and reacted with allergic symptoms, septic sores and high temperature. Case history notes are given by Hoogstraal, Oliver and Guirgis¹. Blood smears from a patient who was ill following tick bites were negative for spiro-chaetes, protozoa and microfilariae. The ticks were identified by one of us (M. G. R. V.) as Ornithodoros sp. and sent to Dr H. Hoogstraal of NAMRU-3, Cairo, who assigned them to Ornithodoros (Alectorobius) muesebecki described from specimens collected from a booby colony on Hasikiya Island, South Yemen Republic, in the Arabian Sea².