tick surveillance Along the Illinois

Journal of Medical Entomology

2006, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 810 - 819

County-Level Surveillance of White-Tailed Deer Infestation by Ixodes
scapularis and Dermacentor albipictus (Acari: Ixodidae) Along the
Illinois
River

M. Roberto Cortinas; Uriel Kitron

Abstract
From 1998 to 2003, 4,935 hunter-killed deer in northern and central
Illinois
were examined for ticks; 4,066 blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis
Say, and
6,530 winter ticks, Dermacentor albipictus (Packard) (Acari: Ixodidae),
were
collected. I. scapularis was the predominant tick species in the
northern
portion of the study area, with a decreasing north-to-south prevalence
gradient. In contrast, D. albipictus was more common in the south with
a
decreasing south-to-north prevalence gradient. Compared with previous
studies, the geographic range for both species expanded into the
central
portion of the Illinois River. Prevalence and intensity of both tick
species
were greater on bucks, and infested bucks were geographically more
widespread than infested does and fawns. These findings indicate that
blacklegged tick and winter tick distributions remain dynamic in the
north
central United States

.