Zajac et al.
Infestation of dairy cows by ticks Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794) and Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758) in eastern Poland.
Ann. Parasitol. 2020, 66: 87-96
In Europe, immature forms of Dermacentor reticulatus and Ixodes ricinus mostly attack small rodents whereas the adult ticks prefer middle sized and large ungulates. Both tick species can also be found on dogs and cats, as well as on breeding animals like sheep, cows, horses etc.
In eastern Poland, grazing cows were regularly analyzed for ticks on various pastures in 2013 and 2014. Body parts where ticks had been collected from were noted (ears, head, neck, front limb, back limb, back and abdomen). In parallel, ticks were collected by flagging where the cows were grazing. It was found out that D. reticulatus were much more often seen on cows than I. ricinus (129:1). A total of 909 D. reticulatus ticks were collected from cows and the preferred spot of location was the neck – 486 specimen (53.56 %) of all collected ticks (267 females, 219 males), followed by the front and back limbs.
The neck may be the preferred site for attachment, because it is characterized by higher body temperature and good blood supply. Moreover, this location prevents removing ticks by the host. There was a lack of difference between the number of ticks collected from animals and plants. The authors concluded that dairy cows can be considered as one of the preferred hosts for adult specimens of D. reticulatus. Grazing of dairy cows in an area of tick occurrence causes risk of infection by tick-borne pathogens and transmission of tick-borne diseases e.g. TBE by consuming non-pasteurized milk (see also Snapshot week 18/2020).