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New Delhi, December 05, 2019:
Ticks and tick borne diseases are increasingly becoming a major health concern for humans, domesticated animals, and livestock. More than 90% of the nearly 60,000 cases of nationally notifiable vector-borne diseases reported in 2017 were linked to ticks.
Invasive tick species are being discovered, new tick borne pathogens are emerging, and co-infections in ticks are surging.
Rising global temperatures, ecologic changes, reforestation, and increases in commerce and travel are all important underlying factors influencing the rate and extent of range expansion for ticks and tickborne pathogens.
Indian tick typhus (ITT), first recognized in 1917 in India, is caused by Rickettsia conori, earlier reported sporadically from mountainous and forested areas and now reported from many parts of the country.
In India, the fatal tick-borne viral diseases, viz., Cremian Congo Hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) and Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) were caused by ticks of Hyalomma analoticum and Hemophysalis spinigera.
KFD is a re-emerging disease discovered in 1957 from Shimoga district of Karnataka state; however, in recent years it has moved its territory to seven districts of the state as well as centripetally spread to neighboring Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra states which are sharing borders with the state.
CCHF, an emerging disease, was first reported from Gujarat in 2011; however, in recent years cases were recorded from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh states.
There are sporadic records available for the occurrence of other tick-borne diseases, viz., relapsing fever, lyme disease, Ganjam virus disease and Q fever from various parts of the country time to time.
Dr KK Aggarwal
President CMAAO and HCFI
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