EVIDENCE THAT TICK ATTACHMENT TO THE HUMAN BODY ISN’T RANDOM

About authors:

A. N. Alekseev, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya emb., 1, 199034 St. Petersburg,
RUSSIA
H. V. Dubinina, Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Emb. 1, 199034 Saint Petersburg, Russia

Acknowledgments:

The research described in this paper was made possible in part by Grant N 04-04-40119 from the Russian Basic Research Foundation. We would like to thank Verra Kosenko, Verra Fyodorova, and Evgeny Il’ynskaja for their valuable assistance. The authors wish to thank to DSc R.W. Ashford Consultant Biologist Professor (retired) of Parasite and Vector Biology c/o Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3, 5QA UK for the valuable advice and improvement of the English version of the manuscript who corrected the English of an advanced draft.

Annotation:

An assumption that the attachment of tick to the human body is both non-random and painless was based on correlations discovered between different factors and the structure of the tick gnathosome receptor. Pearson correlation between data on tick attachment points (I) and data on confirmed cases of tick-borne encephalitis in the Russian Far East (1956–1985) after the single «bite» at the same points was 0.953. Correlation between I and data of number of biological active points (BAP) on the body, known as a painless for needle therapy was 0.997. Resistance of the points where Ixodes persulcatus attempted to attach (80–150 kÙ) was previously measured by the use of an Acupuncture Analyser (Fyodorova and Kosenko 2000). To verify the correctness of hypothesis that tick attachment points are not random and that tick «bite» is painless an experiment was performed with pathogen free hungry Ixodes ricinus females (F2, total number of tick 26). The torso of author, naked to the waist, was used to track, their length (measured by curvimeter) and speed of tick movement. The mean impedance value of the probing points was 172±3.2 kÙ. The female (track 12 cm, speed 12 cm/min) began to attach at a BAP (acupuncture point VB – 24 on the Thai-Vang meridian) with impedance 170 kÙ. This «bite» was painless. Only careful observation allowed the tick mouthparts to be seen plunging inside the skin. Long and speedy search of attachment points, many probing (max. 7) as well as absence of pain during attachment at one of BAP permitted the conclusion that the initial assumption was correct.

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