Hotspot around Trieste

Giant tick spreads in northern Italy

Striking: The striped legs of the Hyalomma tick

(Bild: Universität Hohenheim / Marco Drehmann)

An immigrant giant tick has settled in the northern Italian province of Trieste. The species Hyalomma marginatum is now found in considerable numbers in the Trieste Karst, according to the Trieste City Museum of Natural History. The warming climate has shortened the winters in recent years, which has probably allowed Hyalomma populations to colonize. The eastern part of the province is particularly affected.

The tick, which is widespread in parts of Asia and Africa, has striped legs and, at up to two centimetres, is significantly larger than the best-known tick species in countries such as Austria and Germany, the common wood tick (Ixodes ricinus). Unlike the latter, it has eyes and actively moves towards its prey - over many meters.

New species can import diseases
Due to climate change, the exotic giant tick Hyalomma marginatum has also managed to settle in Austria in isolated cases. "The worrying thing is that this new tick species can import diseases that did not previously exist in Austria," explained Reinhold Kerbl, Secretary General of the Austrian Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (ÖGKJ) recently.

Here you can see a video of crawling Hyalomma ticks: 

The giant tick is about the main carrier of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, but can also spread spotted fever through rickettsia. Crimean-Congo fever usually occurs in Africa, the Middle East and other Asian countries as well as in the Balkans. However, experts have recently been able to detect the triggering bunya viruses in ticks in Spain and France, the ÖGKJ reported.

Striking: the striped legs of the Hyalomma tick

(Bild: Universität Hohenheim / Marco Drehmann)

This virus has not yet been detected in Austria, but domestic tick species also require close monitoring. The Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) is asking for images of the giant tick to be sent by email to [e-mail], but AGES is currently also working on an option to send in ticks.

Giant tick species could also become native to us
The tropical giant tick (Hyalomma sp.) is considered an up-and-comer among ticks, as it could become a permanent resident in Austria due to mild winters and climate change. The animals enter the country with migratory birds and prefer to "land" on horses. 70 percent of these reported ticks were found on these hosts. "Giant ticks actively seek out the host, in contrast to the waiting domestic ticks," emphasized Georg Duscher from the Animal Health Department at AGES.

Giant ticks like sunny, open areas
The rocky Trieste Karst offers a favorable environment for the giant tick, as the Trieste Museum explained: "It does not live in tall, damp grasses, but inhabits sunny, open areas with short grasses and stones - typical of the karst landscape.

However, the establishment of Hyalomma in Trieste is not surprising from an Italian perspective: when asked, the health authority Istituto Superiore di Sanità stated that Hyalomma marginatum is a species that is already widespread in Italy. This is also shown by an overview from the European health authority ECDC from last August: According to this, the tick is also found in large parts of Portugal, Spain, southern France as well as Croatia and Greece. In many places, however, there is a lack of data on the occurrence of the species.