Handout

The brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus, has a worldwide distribution and is found throughout the United States (US) and Mexico. This tick is driving epidemics of Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) in Arizona and northwest Mexico. As the name suggests, the tick mainly takes blood meals from dogs, but it will also feed on humans and other mammals, and can carry serious disease causing pathogens. In the early 2000’s it was found to transmit Rickettsia rickettsii, (a gram-negative, intracellular, coccobacillus bacterium) that causes RMSF in Arizona. This was the first time this tick species has been associated with the disease in the US (Demma et al. 2005). Similar outbreaks occurred at the same time in Sonora and more recently in Baja California (Alvarez- Hernandez et al. 2017).

Read the quick reference handout is available English or Spanish.

Brown dog ticks spend most of their lives resting in protected places and not on their host animal. Learn what you can do to prevent ticks in and around your home, what to do if you find one and the signs and symptoms of rocky mountain spotted fever. Read the quick reference handout is available English or Spanish and you can read the full in-depth publication.