IXODES RICINUS LARVA, THEIR MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL FEATURES, SEASONAL ACTIVITY AND EPIDEMIOLOGY IN THE CONDITIONS OF TERNOPIL REGIONE

Ixodes mites are active reservoirs and carriers of many infective diseases of animals and humans. Among them, the dog tick (Ixodes ricinus) is one of the most active mites, which at all stages of their life is able to convey man to borreliosis, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis. During 2018, 619 ticks were sent for the study to the Horbachevsky Ternopil State Medical University laboratory. Ticks included 19 larvae (3,06 %), taken from the body of people at the traumatological state of the Ternopil city emergency hospital. When comparing changes of morphological parameters of the body with degrees of larval saturation by the host's blood, it is noted that changes in body length and changes in the width of the abdomen occur almost in proportion. So, when the length of the body increases in 2,5, the width of the abdomen increases to 2,1. The analysis of the frequency of larval attacks on humans during 2017-2018 has shown that the peak of their development and attacks on people is manifested in May-June and in August-September. The highest parameter is in August (39,1%). Changes of the larvae’ activity are evidently due to the temperature, that has been observed in recent years in Ukraine. In particular, at the end of June - in the middle of July there was a temperature maximum - more than 27-300C and a decrease in humidity to less than 70 %. During this period, virtually all stages of mites fell into the state of diapause. Arthropods attacked their victims mainly in the parks and squares of the city of Ternopil. There were cases of mites attacks on children directly in the adjoining to the houses green regions and at playgrounds. Obviously, the presence of mites in such areas within the city is supported by a number of mammals, including mammals, birds, and pets. The analysis of the epidemiological state of the larvae of the Ixodes ricinus species was carried out using the PCR on the Rotor-Gene - 6000 analyzers in real time. Of the 23 larvae, carriers of infections were only three. Each of them had two pathogens. Two of them had pathogens Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. and Anaplasma phagocytophilum and one - Borrelia miyamotoi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Thus, the percentage of infected larvae from their total was 13%.