D3188: Rapid discovery and detection of Haemaphysalis longicornis through the use of passive surveillance and collaboration: Building a state tick-surveillance network

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

9:00 AM – 2:00 PM MT

Location:: Exhibit Hall F

Presenting Author(s)

Rebecca T. Trout Fryxell

Associate Professor
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Co-Author(s)

DV

Dene Vann

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
RB

R. A. Butler

PhD Student
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
DP

D. Paulsen

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
JC

J. G. Chandler

Research Specialist III
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
MW

Micah Willis

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
HW

Heidi Wyrosdick

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
JS

John Schaefer

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
RG

Richard Gerhold

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
DG

Dan Grove

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee, United States

Between March 2019 and February 2020, Asian longhorned ticks (Haemaphysalis longicornis Neumann, 1901) were discovered and collected for the first time in one middle and seven eastern Tennessee counties, facilitated by a newly developed passive and collaborative tick-surveillance network. Network collaborators included federal, state, county, university, and private resource personnel working with companion animals, livestock, and wildlife. Specimens were collected primarily from dogs and cattle, with initial detections of female adult stage ticks by stakeholders associated with parasitology positions (e.g., entomologists and veterinary parasitologists). Initial county tick detections were confirmed with morphological and molecular identifications, and then screened for the presence of animal-associated pathogens (Anaplasma marginale, Babesia species, Ehrlichia species, and Theileria orientalis), for which all tests were negative. Herein, we describe the identification and confirmation of these tick specimens as well as other results of the surveillance collaboration.