Interaction between acari ectoparasites and rodents in Suez governorate, Egypt

ABSTRACT

Some rodent populations are wild, but others are commensal and live in close association with man. Their arthropod ectoparasites play an important role in conveying or transmitting some zoonotic diseases. Several disorders and diseases of man are tick borne relapsing fever, Rocky mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, and many others. Besides, numerous species of mites occasionally infest man. They transmit several diseases as Rickettsia tsutsugamushi fever, epidemic hemorrhagic fever, and they cause severe allergic reactions. Six species and subspecies of rodents were detected. In a descending order of abundance, they were Rattus norvegicus, Rattus rattus alexandrinus, Rattus rattus frugivorous, Acomys cahirinus, Gerbillus gerbillus asyutensis, Mus m. pretextus. The most common rodent was R. norvegicus and the least common was M. musculus. The collected ticks and mites were 2 genera of tick larvae [Rhipicephalus species and Hyalomma species]. The collected mites were Ornithonyssus bacoti and Laelaps nuttalli. Most of the tick larvae were collected from wild rodent, Gerbillus g. asyutensis. Most of the mites were collected from commensal rodents, particularly R. norvegicus. Descriptive morphology and illustration were given to the collected rodents and their acari ectoparasites