Field study of the relationship between skin-sensitizing antibody production in the cottontail rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus, and infestation by the rabbit tick, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris (Acari: Ixodidae)

The resistance of cottontail rabbits to tick feeding appears correlated with the rabbits' development of skin-sensitizing antibodies. Resistance appeared to be greatest in adult rabbits which had been repeatedly infested with ticks. Rabbits with little exposure to ticks, usually the young cottontails, showed little or no skin-sensitizing antibody present in their blood and usually had relatively high tick loads when compared with adult rabbits. Models used to interpret the data show promise as tools for predicting tick population fluctuations and, perhaps, incidence of vector borne disease outbreaks. The existence of resistance to tick attachment has important implications for the host-parasite relationship. This research lends support to the hypothesis that the resistance may function as a homeostatic regulatory mechanism capable of maintaining the size of the tick population in equilibrium with the size of the rabbit population. In this way, host resistance may be advantageous to the parasite as well as to the host.