ARS | Publication request: Novel techniques developed to control cattle fever ticks feeding on free-ranging white-tailed deer along the Rio Grande in South Texas

Submitted to: National Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 11, 2011
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Cattle fever ticks were eradicated from the southern and southeastern U.S. and California in a campaign that lasted from 1907 through 1943, however, re-introductions across the Rio Grande from Mexico and into South Texas have resulted in extensive efforts to maintain eradication from other parts of the U.S. The original campaign took place when white-tailed deer that may complicate the eradication effort as alternative hosts were almost non-existent in most of the southeastern U.S., therefore they were not considered to be major threats to the eradication program. This presentation reviews, summarizes, and updates conformational support for the role of white-tailed deer derived from data including historical accounts, circumstantial evidence from recent infestations, and cattle fever tick infestations on white-tailed deer that were live-captured and examined specifically for these ticks. More importantly, the presentation reviews and describes several novel technologies that have been developed by ARS scientists to control ticks feeding on wild white-tailed deer. These include both topical and systemic technologies and ancillary technologies that support the actual treatment devices. Information also is presented that argues strongly for the importance to the USDA-APHIS Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program of increasing efforts and expenditures for enhanced surveillance to discover and eradicate infestations that heretofore would be un-discovered until cattle were placed on the premises and eventually examined for ticks.