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Diseases Transmitted by the Indian Species of Ticks
of India which are more favourable to the increase of the population of
ticks, and the larger number of the Indian species, the present author is of
the opinion that the tick problem is as, if not more serious in India than it
is in the United States of America, where an enormous amount of money
is spent every year upon the control of ticks alone.
The following is an attempt to review the existing information about
the diseases transmitted by species of ticks found in India, but as the records
of tick-borne diseases from India are few, the author has incorporated all
those cases which have been reported from outside India, as there can al-
ways be a possibility in a vast country like India of some of the diseases being
never brought to the notice of competent persons. With the rapid mode of
transport like aeroplanes there is always a possibility of the transference of
infected ticks from outside, as they can live without food for a long time.
According to Nuttall [ 1908 ], " Ticks imported from India and Africa have
transmitted the disease to dogs in England, and ticks imported from Africa
have transmitted piroplasmosis to cattle in England." There is every pos-
sibility of the fresh introduction of some of the diseases in India.
DISEASES TRANSMITTED BY INDIAN TICKS
The importance of ticks in general as transmitting agents of various
diseases of man and domesticated animals continues to become more mani-
fest as our knowledge of them increases. In man they transmit the causative
agents of the relapsing fever (spirochaetosis) all over the world, the rickettsial
diseases like Tick typhus fever, Marseilles fever, and the Rocky Mountain
spotted fever of America and Tularaemia. In domesticated animals they
transmit diseases caused by Babesia Starcovici (—Piroplasma Patton),
Theileria Bettencourt, Franca and Borges, Anaplasma Theiler, Spirochaeta
Ehrenberg, Bacteria and Viruses.
Piroplasmosis.—Of the diseases which ticks transmit the diseases
due to Babesia are amongst the most devastating which affect domestic
animals all over the world. In many parts of the world it is impossible to
import cattle for the reason that as many as 90 per cent may die due to piro-
plasmosis. According to Bishopp [ 1935 ], in the United States of America
the estimated loss from Texa fever in cattle amounts to 40 to 100 million
dollars a year. The Texa or tropical Red-water fever of cattle (bovine piro-
plasmosis) due to Babesia bigemina (Smith and Kilborne) is transmitted in
India by Hyalomma, (Hyalomma) aegyptium (Linnaeus) and Boophilus australis
(Fuller). According to Cooper [ 1926 ], this disease is widely distributed in
India but in most localities it infects young calves which on account of a great
power of resistance recover from the disease and consequently they become
" immune by virtue of being ' carriers ' of the parasite in a latent state of ac-
tivity for the rest of their lives." Thus to a greater extent this disease is
harmless in India but it manifests itself in this country when the infection
is transmitted in adult cattle especially when they are imported into India
from countries where this disease is not found. ' The disease also results