Stawonogi - wektory chorob transmisyjnych

Arthropods may be obligatory or facultative vectors of transmissible diseases. Various relations exist between arthropod reservoirs and vectors of which the most important are trophic, topic and phoric associations. Arthropods could be biological or mechanical vectors and transmit pathogens in an active or passive way. Among different taxonomic groups of arthropod vectors the mostimportant are hard ticks (Ixodidae). The following biological features of ticks support their role as reservoirs and vectors of disease agents: anatomical structure; feeding mechanisms, mostly an ability of the intake of large volumes of host blood and an ability of the injection of large amounts of saliva into host's body; change of hosts during life cycle; a possibility of the long persistence of pathogens in tick's population due to the transstadial, transovarial, transspermal and hyperparasitic transmission, and parallel feeding; longevity of ticks compared to rodents; a possibility of geographical distribution.