Detection of a questing Hyalomma marginatum marginatum adult female (Acari, Ixodidae) in southern Germany

Abstract

The first finding of a questing Hyalomma marginatum marginatum female tick in Germany is described. The tick was found in May 2006 on the clothing of a person who had spent the preceding day in rural surroundings in southern Germany. As the infested person had also been visiting Spain where H. m. marginatum is known to occur some weeks prior to finding the tick, it is not clear whether the tick had been imported by him as a female or by another host in a preimaginal stage and succeeded to develop to an adult in Germany. H. m. marginatum is a thermophilic tick species usually occurring in relatively dry and warm regions of southern Europe, northern Africa and some parts of Asia. It is a vector of several disease agents of human relevance including Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. Although, by PCR examination, the female was found neither infected with this virus nor with Rickettsia aeschlimannii, another human pathogen which has been found in Spanish Hyalomma ticks, its mere finding should be taken seriously and draw further attention to the increasing problem of the import and spread of putatively tropical vectors of disease to central Europe. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.