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Ticks carrying life-threatening virus living longer in UK due to heatwaves, expert warns
Health officials say hotter summers are helping rare Hyalomma ticks moult into adults, raising concern over a virus with a fatality rate of up to 40%.
- Recent heatwaves are allowing Hyalomma ticks to reach adulthood in the UK, a development the UK Health Security Agency is monitoring closely.
- These parasites typically arrive on migratory birds from Africa and the Mediterranean as nymphs, though previously temperatures were too cool for them to moult into adulthood.
- Dr. Jolyon Medlock, head of medical entomology at the UKHSA, noted that while cases remain rare, public health authorities are "starting to pick up a bit more" of these vectors for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
- Milder winters and hotter, drier summers are causing a shift in tick seasonality, with authorities tracking activity through the UKHSA Tick Surveillance Scheme established in 2005.
- Although these climate-sensitive pathogens are emerging, experts emphasize that detection "doesn't mean the tick will survive, and it doesn't necessarily mean it's an infection risk" across Europe.
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Great Yorkshire RadioTicks carrying life-threatening virus living longer in UK due to heatwaves, expert warns
Hyalomma ticks sometimes arrive by attaching themselves to migratory birds, and are the main transmitters of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
·United Kingdom
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Disease-carrying ticks ‘living for longer’ in UK thanks to hotter summers
Disease-carrying ticks are living for longer in the UK thanks to heatwaves, an expert has said. Previously, it hasn’t been warm enough for hyalomma ticks to survive into adulthood. While still rare, health officials are ‘starting to pick up a bit more,’ according to Dr Jolyon Medlock, head of medical entomology at the UK Health […]
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