experimental study of rift valley fever virus in common Egyptian ixodid ticks

ABSTRACT

Since the Daubney and Hudson report in 1933 of nymphal Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks transmitting Rift Valley fever [RVF] virus in Kenya, there has been much speculation regarding the role of ticks in maintaining and transmitting this virus. We fed laboratory reared larvae, nymphs, and adults of five Egyptian tick species on viremic hamsters and the subsequent developmental stages or generation of these ticks on suscepetible hamsters to determine whether these tick species can maintain and transmit the virus. All results were negative or essentially negative. The tick species were Hyalomma dromedarii, H. impeltatum, H. marginatum rufipes, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and R. simus. These species commonly infest the various domestic animals that were infected by RVF virus during the 1977 -1978 RVF epidemic in Egypt