wild and domestic mammals and birds are hosts for known and unknown zoonotic pathogens , including tick - borne encephalitis ( tbe ) virus , ehrlichia , rickettsia , anaplasma , bartonella , and borrelia spp . . recently , a patient was diagnosed with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome ( sfts ) , a virus first reported in china in 2009 and japan in 2011 and transmitted by haemaphysalis longicornis . in the republic of korea ( rok ) , from may to november 2013 , a total of 35 patients have been confirmed with sfts , of which there were 16 deaths ( 45.7% ) since the first patient was confirmed in gangwon - do on 21st may 2013 . approximately 70% of the korean landscape is mountainous . as a result of a national tree planting policy instituted in the 1960s , young to mature planted groves and volunteer trees now cover mountains and hillsides . these forests provide harborage for wild and feral mammals ( i.e. , water deer , hydropotes inermis ; siberian roe deer , capreolus pygargus ; wild boar , sus crofa ; raccoon dog , nyctereutes procyonoides ; leopard cat , prionalurus bengalensis ; eurasian badger , meles leucurus ; weasel , mustela sibirica ; rodent ; soricomorph ; feral cat , felis catus ; and feral dog , canis lupus ) and forest dwelling birds like ring - necked pheasants ( phasianus colchicus ) that are host to a number of ectoparasites and pathogens they harbor . agriculture , construction , military operations and training , and increased recreational activities corresponding to peak activity of ticks increase exposure to zoonotic pathogens . therefore , comprehensive tick - borne disease surveillance programs that include host - vector - pathogen relationships provide a better understanding of the diversity of hosts and host - ectoparasite - zoonotic pathogen relationships that impact on the health of domestic animals , birds , and humans . the purpose of this tick surveillance program was to identify hosts , associated ticks , and zoonotic pathogens ( reported separately ) , and tick indices ( tis ) for ticks collected from wild and domestic mammals , birds , and vegetation in the rok . ticks were collected from wild and domestic mammals , a ring - necked pheasant , and vegetation ( tick drag ) in the rok as a part of the national institute of biological resources ( nibr ) project ( fig . 1 ) . mammals and a bird were examined for ectoparasites and ticks removed and provided to seoul national university ( snu ) through the snu sampling network ( e.g. , wildlife rescue centers , veterinary hospitals , zoos , and legal hunters ) during 2012 ( table 1 ) . mammals and a bird were identified to species using morphological methods and given a unique collection number . ticks removed were placed in 15 or 50 ml conical tubes containing 100% ethyl alcohol ( etoh ) , and labeled with a unique collection number . ticks also were collected and transported to snu from vegetation ( e.g. , mainly grass and shrub vegetation at deer and cattle farms , province and local parks , and resident areas ) by snu researchers during 2012 . ticks collected by drag were similarly placed in conical tubes with 100% etoh and labeled with a unique collection number . ticks were identified to species , developmental stage , and sex ( adults ) under a dissecting microscope using conventional taxonomic keys . mammals and a bird that were rescued , killed on highways , or legally hunted were examined under separate institutional approved animal use protocols . tis were calculated as : the numbers of ticks collected from hosts / total number of hosts , by species . a total of 573 ticks belonging to 3 genera ( haemaphysalis , ixodes , and amblyomma ) and 6 species were collected from 27 wild ( 4 families , 5 species ) and 7 domestic ( 1 family , 1 species ) mammals and from 1 ringed - necked pheasant ( table 1 ) . a total of 9 siberian roe deer were examined for ticks , followed by water deer ( 8) , raccoon dogs ( 8) , and domestic dogs ( 7 ) , wild boar ( 1 ) , eurasian badger ( 1 ) , and ring - necked pheasant ( 1 ) . among the ticks collected , h. longicornis ( 402 ) was the most frequently collected species from mammalian / avian hosts , followed by h. flava ( 158 ) , a. testudinarium ( 7 ) , h. nipponensis ( 5 ) , and h. japonica ( 1 ) ( table 1 ) . in addition , a total of 39 ticks belonging to 3 species ( h. longicornis , h. formosensis , and i. nipponensis ) were collected from vegetation by tick drag . h. flava had the broadest host range ( n=7 ) , followed by h. longicornis ( n=5 ) , a. testudinarium ( n=2 ) , i. nipponensis ( n=2 ) , and h. japonica ( n=1 ) ( table 2 ) . a. testudinarium was collected only from the wild boar ( 6 ticks ) and eurasian badger ( 1 ) , while i. nipponensis was collected from water deer ( 4 ) and raccoon dog ( 1 ) and by tick drag ( 6 ) . h. longicornis and/or h. flava were collected from all animal hosts , while h. japonica ( 1 tick ) was collected only from domestic dogs ( table 2 ) . excluding the wild boar , eurasian badger , and ring - necked pheasant , which were collected only once , the highest ti was observed for domestic dogs ( 29.6 ) ( table 2 ) . for wild mammals , the highest ti was observed for siberian roe deer ( 17.4 ) , followed by water deer ( 14.4 ) and raccoon dogs ( 1.3 ) . h. longicornis nymphs ( 160 , 39.8% ) and larvae ( 156 , 38.8% ) were collected more frequently than adults ( 86 , 21.4% ) ( table 3 ) . in contrast , h. flava adults ( 103 , 65.2% ) were more commonly collected than nymphs ( 20 , 12.7% ) and larvae ( 35 , 22.2% ) . in our study , h. flava had the broadest host range , followed by h. longicornis , a. testudinarium , i. nipponensis , and h. japonica . by contrast , in a previous survey of wild mammal hosts , 70 i. nipponensis were collected from water deer , siberian roe deer , and 3 other mammalian species , whereas only 1 h. japonica was collected from a water deer , and no a. testudinarium was collected from any of the mammals examined . the highest ti was observed for domestic dogs , some of which seemed to be exposed to tick habitats of tall grasses and forested areas . for wild mammals , the highest ti was observed for siberian roe deer , followed by water deer and raccoon dogs . in a separate study , the raccoon dog demonstrated a very high ti ( 38.0 ) , while similar tis were observed for water deer ( 16.4 ) and siberian roe deer ( 9.0 ) . variability in observed tis is likely due to differences in sample sizes , areas surveyed , and dates of collection . similar to other studies , h. longicornis was the predominant tick collected from wild and domestic animals in the rok . i. nipponensis was infrequently collected in this study ; however , it is the primary tick collected from small mammals   and has been implicated in the transmission and maintenance of tick - borne pathogens to humans in the rok . one adult female h. formosensis was first collected from vegetation by tick drag on mara island , seogwipo - si , jeju - do , a migratory bird stopover island during their spring and fall migration to breeding and feeding grounds , respectively . h. formosensis nymphs were reported from neighboring countries and also was collected from migratory birds during 2010 - 2012 . further investigation need to be conducted to determine if h. formosensis has become established on the island and , if so , how well it adapted there or other places .
ticks were collected from 35 animals from 5 provinces and 3 metropolitan cities during 2012 . 
 ticks also were collected by tick drag from 4 sites in gyeonggi - do ( 2 ) and jeollabuk - do ( 2 ) provinces . 
 a total of 612 ticks belonging to 6 species and 3 genera were collected from mammals and a bird ( n=573 ) and by tick drag ( n=39 ) . 
 haemaphyalis longicornis ( n=434 ) was the most commonly collected tick , followed by h. flava ( 158 ) , ixodes nipponensis ( 11 ) , amblyomma testudinarium ( 7 ) , h. japonica ( 1 ) , and h. formosensis ( 1 ) . 
 h. longicornis and h. flava were collected from all animal hosts examined . for animal hosts ( n>1 ) , the highest tick index ( ti ) 
 was observed for domestic dogs ( 29.6 ) , followed by siberian roe deer ( 17.4 ) , water deer ( 14.4 ) , and raccoon dogs ( 1.3 ) . 
 a total of 402 h. longicornis ( adults 86 , 21.4% ; nymphs 160 , 39.8% ; larvae 156 , 38.9% ) were collected from wild and domestic animals . 
 a total of 158 h. flava ( n=158 ) were collected from wild and domestic animals and 1 ring - necked pheasant , with a higher proportion of adults ( 103 , 65.2% ) , while nymphs and larvae only accounted for 12.7% ( 20 ) and 22.2% ( 35 ) , respectively . 
 only 7 a. testudinarium were collected from the wild boar ( 6 adults ) and eurasian badger ( 1 nymph ) , while only 5 i. nipponensis were collected from the water deer ( 4 adults ) and a raccoon dog ( 1 adult ) . 
 one adult female h. formosensis was first collected from vegetation by tick drag from mara island , seogwipo - si , jeju - do province .