Livestock Immunity to Ticks

Reliance on chemical tick management in livestock is non-sustainable. This book considers alternative venues such as natural tick control, innate tick resistance, naturally acquired adaptive immunity and new technological developments and successes such as vaccination schemes, as well as potential barriers to commercialisation.

As arthropod ectoparasites, ticks threaten the wellbeing of the animals whose habitat they share. They cause skin damage from their bite wounds, secrete toxins, transmit pathogens, and can also induce allergic reactions and infected wounds. For more than a century, domestic animals have undergone chemical tick treatment as part of their husbandry routine. However, this reliance on chemicals is non-sustainable, and ignores the existence of other possible avenues of tick management. Covering recent developments in the field, this book considers avenues such as: - Managing infestations through both natural tick control and human intervention - Innate tick resistance - Naturally acquired adaptive immunity - Technological developments and successes such as vaccination schemes The book also takes into consideration the barriers any one of these solutions may face on the road to commercialization. Livestock Immunity to Ticks provides a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for researchers and students of immunology, parasitology and entomology.