Amblyomma sculptum (Amblyomma cajennense complex) tick population maintained solely by domestic pigs Carolina Fonseca Osava a , Vanessa do Nascimento Ramos b , Alessandra Castro Rodrigues a , Hugo Vilela dos Reis Neto a , Maria Marlene Martins a , Jamile Oliveira Pascoal a , Jonny Yokosawa c , Matias Pablo Juan Szabó a, ⁎ a Laboratório de Ixodologia, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, MG b Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil c Laboratório de Virologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, MG abstract article info Article history: Received 19 August 2016 Accepted 24 November 2016 Available online 29 November 2016 In Brazil Amblyomma sculptum from Amblyomma cajennense complex is a tick species with a rather broad distri- bution encompassing the Cerrado Biome and devastated areas of the Atlantic rainforest. This species is also the major vector to humans of Rickettsia rickettsii, agent of the Brazilian spotted fever. Main primary hosts for the adult stage and frequently associated to high environmental infestation levels are the native capybaras and tapirs and a domestic host, the horse. Recent, however, solely circumstantial evidence, has shown that pigs (Sus scrofa) domestic, feral or exotic (wild boars) as well as wild suidae may maintain A. sculptum populations as well. We herein describe the maintenance of an A. sculptum tick population by domestic pigs for three years when raised in paddocks. Observations herein described occurred in the facilities of an intensive outdoor pig production sys- tem within a farm in Uberaba municipality southeast Brazil. Initial evaluation was done upon request due to human tick-bite complains in June 2013. Later tick infestations were evaluated at each of eight consecutive sea- sons from August 2014 to May 2016. In the first evaluation, 104 nymphs and one female A. sculptum were collect- ed from four pigs and 269 nymphs of A. sculptum and 12 Amblyomma spp larva clusters from the paddocks. Only one A. sculptum nymph was found in each of the surrounding bovine pasture and a nearby riparian forest. Seven Rhipicephalus spp and three Amblyomma spp larva were found in the former as well. Infestations were greatly re- duced with elimination of the two most infested paddocks and mowing of vegetation. Still along the inspection of eight consecutive seasons A sculptum ticks were collected overwhelmingly adults from pigs. Thus, observations herein described show that outdoor pig raising may provide both a permissive environment and adequate host allowing for a minimal threshold for the maintenance of A. sculptum populations. Since raising domestic pigs in paddocks to increase animal welfare is an increasing practice, it may indicate a new trend in this parasit- ism, with yet an unknown effect upon animal and human health. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: domestic pig Amblyomma sculptum primary host 1. Introduction Ticks are believed to be more environment than host specific (Klompen et al., 1996; Nava and Guglielmone, 2012). Nevertheless, in a permissive environment, ticks, particularly the adult stage, may exhib- it host preferences as displayed by increased biological performance, es- pecially reproductive on adequate host. At the same time, a diverse array of ecological alterations of anthropogenic origin throughout the world increased density of a few host species within an environment permissive for some of the tick species. These host densities surpassed a threshold and now support an overabundant population of a few tick species to an extent that it is troublesome for humans. Several major examples include the Amblyomma americanum populations asso- ciated with the white-tailed deer in North America (Paddock and Yabsley, 2007), Rhipicephalus microplus in Brazil and elsewhere (Grisi et al., 2014), Rhipicephalus sanguineus tick complex worldwide (Nava et al., 2015) and so on. Since anthropogenic ecological alterations are still ongoing fast, new tick population imbalances are likely to occur In Brazil Amblyomma sculptum from Amblyomma cajennense com- plex is a tick species with a rather broad distribution encompassing the Cerrado Biome and devastated areas of the Atlantic rainforest. (Szabó et al., 2009; Nava et al., 2014; Martins et al., 2016). This tick spe- cies is the one most frequently biting humans in Brazil (Guglielmone et al., 2006; Ramos et al., 2014a) and considered the main vector of the Brazilian spotted fever caused by Rickettsia rickettsii infection (Labruna Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports 6 (2016) 9–13 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Av. Pará, 1720/Campus Umuarama-Bloco 2T, 38400-902 – Uberlândia, MG, Brasil. E-mail address: szabo@ufu.br (M.P.J. Szabó). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vprsr.2016.11.002 2405-9390/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vprsr