The effect of inflammatory and hypersensitive reactions, in response to the feeding of the tick Amblyomma variegatum, on the progression of experimental dermatophilosis infections.

Initial infestations of Amblyomma variegatum larvae and nymphs, on rabbits and sheep respectively, produced inflammatory reactions in the host's skin; repeated infestations resulted in an increase in development of delayed type hypersensitive reactions. Dermatophilus congolensis cocci were applied in titrated doses to hosts at sites of inflammatory or hypersensitive reactions to ticks, and to control hosts with no exposure to ticks. We assessed the resulting infections for three weeks and found no significant difference between the infections on the three groups. We conclude that the local effects of the feeding of immature stages of this tick do not influence the pathogenesis of dermatophilosis.