Role of gamasid ticks in foci of tick-borne encephalitis
Zemskaia, A.A.; Pchelkina, A.A.
Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 43(4): 405-407
1974
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326 PMID: 4419076 Document Number: 81517
A total of 66 white mice were placed in 7 artificial nests infested with examples of Ornithonyssus bacoti (Hirst) infected with the Sofin strain of tick-borne encephalitis virus. Twenty-six of the 66 died during the next 48 days with no signs of virus infection. Some of the remainder were found to have antibody to the virus in their serum, and 15 tested on the 48th day were immune to intraperitoneal injection of 1000 lethal doses of the virus. Transmission by O. bacoti under these conditions is apparently able to induce immunity in small mammals. The possible bearing of this on the circulation of the virus is discussed.