aussies are tick hinting :)

December 15, 1999

Australians aim to track down tick species

ADELAIDE, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Two Australian scientists are leading a A$12

million (US$7.6 million) worldwide search to record every known tick species,

in a bid to help prevent disease spread by the sometimes deadly blood-sucking

parasite.

Environmental biologist Ross s said on Wednesday that ticks were, after

mosquitoes, the most significant transmitters of disease to humans in both

developed and developing countries and the single most important transmitters

of disease to domestic animals.

``If you don't know which ones you are dealing with, then how can we do

anything about them,'' he told Reuters.

s and Trevor Petney, from the University of Adelaide, said they

initiated the Ticks of the World project, being funded by public and

corporate sources, in response to growing worldwide concern about the health

threat posed by parasites.

Biologists are already aware of about 860 species of tick, but new ones are

being discovered and described each year, and the project aims to produce

over the next 15 years the most comprehensive body of information about ticks

ever assembled.

``Ticks account for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children every

year and the risk of parasitic outbreaks is rising with increased

transportation of food and people between countries,'' s said.

Ticks are the vectors for a number of diseases, transmitting a variety of

viral, bacterial and protozoan parasites, he said.

They spread ailments such as relapsing fever, tick-borne encephalitis, and

Lyme disease, which is spread by ticks from deer, is not uncommon in northern

America and Europe, and can lead to heart, joint or neurological disease.

00:40 12-15-99

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