Brought home from a trip to the Medina of Tunis

This tick appeared during unpacking travel luggage at home. The tick was neatly stored in a small bottle filled with alcohol and sent to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, to have it identified. It is the Rhipicephalus sanguineus or Brown dog tick.

This species lives in countries with a warm climate in every continent and therefore also in countries around the Mediterranean Sea. Especially in Spain, France and Italy, people are regularly bitten by this brown animal.

Rhipicephalus sanguineus likes warm and humid spots and has a preference for staying on rodents, antelopes, cattle or pets. This type of tick is therefore also called the Brown dog tick. Although animals are often the victims of this tick, people can also be bitten by it. This tick can also survive in nature or in houses.

The tick is known to be able to transmit various diseases to both animals and humans, including spot typhus and ‘Fièvre boutonneuse’, also known as Mediterranean spotted fever.