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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0">Hello OWBG Members,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0">I received a request this week from a PhD candidate studying bat ticks. He is in need of bat ticks. See his request below and please reach out to him if you think you can help.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0">Much thanks!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#7030A0">Marne <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="Default">Hello,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">I write you in the hopes that your interaction with bats can help me study their parasites. I am a PhD student at the Center for Vector Biology at Rutgers studying ticks on bats. In the northeast US, the most
common bat tick is called <i>Carios kelleyi</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><i><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Carios kelleyi </span></i><span style="font-size:11.5pt">is what is called a “soft tick” and is unlike the ticks you may encounter in the field such as American dog ticks or deer ticks, which are called “hard
ticks.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">The bat tick likes to remain in the roost of the bat and comes out of its hiding spot to feed when it gets hungry (and when bats are present, of course). After feeding for a few minutes to an hour, the tick
retreats back into its cracks and crevices, slowly digesting its blood meal. They do not feed for days like hard ticks. However, the larval stage of the bat tick will remain attached to the bat for days – even weeks - just like hard ticks. And because of this,
larval ticks are the stage of bat tick most frequently encountered by bat rehabilitators and bat researchers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Furthermore, humans can also “encounter” bat ticks when bats are removed from roosts such as attics. There are published reports of people being bitten by bat ticks when the ticks have no other hosts to feed
on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">My major goal is to test these bat ticks for pathogens. There are published reports of
<i>Carios kelleyi </i>carrying <i>Rickettsia</i>, <i>Borrelia </i>and <i>Bartonella</i>. Scientists do not know if these bacteria harm the bats or not. But before studies like that take place, we need take a snapshot and see what percentage of bat ticks carry
these pathogens. This is where you come in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">I need your ticks! If you find any ticks on your bats, remove them with a fine pair of forceps by getting as close to the skin as possible and gently remove the tick. Please place the ticks in a vial (one bat
per vial), add a small amount of alcohol and ship them to me. (You can add multiple ticks from an individual bat into one vial.)
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">For each collection (one bat is a collection) I need the date, species of bat and location where the bat was found.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">This is the first study of its kind and I hope we are successful in identifying bacterial pathogens in bat ticks across the northeast.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="page-break-before:always"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">If you have any questions, you can email me at
</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;color:#0462C1">james.occi@rutgers.edu </span>
<span style="font-size:11.5pt">or call my cell at 908- 337-3946. And if you are less than a 2-hour drive from my home, I may come to you to pick the ticks up!
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default" style="page-break-before:always"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Below I have included a photo of what these ticks look like. These specimens are from a big brown bat from New Jersey found in 2019. The ruler is in mm.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">I genuinely appreciate your help in this matter and look forward to hearing from you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Sincerely, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Jim Occi <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">5 Hemlock Circle <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">Cranford, New Jersey 07016 <o:p>
</o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;color:#0462C1">james.occi@rutgers.edu
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">908-337-3946 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="Default"><span style="font-size:11.5pt">PS – All participants will be kept informed on what their ticks have been found to carry.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">PSS – Feel free to include any “bugs” you find on your bats, you never know what we will find. Just make sure I know what bat it was from.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><img width="370" height="240" style="width:3.8583in;height:2.5in" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image001.png@01D670BE.B56C5040"></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><img width="224" height="45" style="width:2.3333in;height:.4666in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.png@01D670BE.B56C5040" alt="The Ohio State University"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#C00000;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#C00000;background:white">Marne A. Titchenell</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">Wildlife Program Specialist, OSU Extension</span><br>
<b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#404040;background:white">School of Environment and Natural Resources</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH 43210</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;background:white">614-292-0402 Office</span><br>
<a href="mailto:titchenell.4@osu.edu"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:blue;background:white">titchenell.4@osu.edu</span></a>
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