New Jersey’s first parasitic ‘bat tick’ found in Sussex County

A recent article in the Journal of Medical Entomology, with lead author James L. Occi, a doctoral student in the Rutgers Center for Vector Biology, made the announcement of the find this week. But he and a biologist who were part of the DFW study team agreed there is little danger to the public. Occi did say “all ticks feed on blood and may transmit pathogens during feeding.” Senior author of the study, Dina M. Fonseca, a professor and director of the Center for Vector Biology in the Department of Entomology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, explained that while the public health risk remains unknown, “finding them on New Jersey bats was an unusual event that prompted bat specialists to contact us. Maybe these ticks are becoming more common.”