Where do ticks get viruses? - briefly
Ticks acquire viruses primarily by feeding on infected mammals, birds, or reptiles, which serve as reservoirs for the pathogens. Some viruses can also be passed from adult females to their offspring through the eggs.
Where do ticks get viruses? - in detail
Ticks become carriers of viruses primarily through feeding on infected vertebrate hosts. When a tick attaches to a mammal, bird, or reptile that harbors a virus in its bloodstream, the virus enters the tick’s gut during the blood meal. The pathogen then migrates to the salivary glands, where it can be transmitted to subsequent hosts.
Additional pathways include:
- Co‑feeding transmission: Adjacent ticks feeding simultaneously on the same host can exchange viruses without the host developing systemic infection.
- Transstadial persistence: A virus acquired during one life stage (larva, nymph) can survive the molt and remain infectious in the next stage.
- Transovarial inheritance: Some viruses are passed from an infected female tick to her offspring through the eggs, allowing the next generation to emerge already infected.
- Environmental reservoirs: Small mammals, ground‑dwelling birds, and reptiles that inhabit the same microhabitats as ticks serve as natural virus reservoirs, maintaining the pathogen pool in the ecosystem.
The combination of these mechanisms enables ticks to acquire, retain, and disseminate viral agents across multiple host species and geographic regions.