A giant tick commonly found across Asia and Africa has settled in rocky plateaus of northern Italy thanks to climate change, researchers said.
The warming climate has shortened the winters in the mountainous Italian province of Trieste, which has enabled populations of the tick Hyalomma marginatum to colonize the area, the Civic Museum of Natural History said this month.
"Single specimens of this tick originating from hot and dry environments of the southern Mediterranean had already been detected in the past, brought by migratory birds or by the livestock trade, but so far the cold winters had prevented the settlement of local populations," the museum in the city of Trieste said.
It warned that unlike other ticks normally found in the area, Hyalomma marginatum was more aggressive. They will not "passively wait for animals and humans to attach to, but approach them and chase them for a few metres even along paths," a museum statement said.
The museum said Hyalomma marginatum loves the landscape of the Trieste region, which is popular with hikers. This type of tick does not live in tall, damp grasses; instead it settles in sunny, open areas with short grasses and rocks, which is typical of the area.
Researchers are not surprised that the tick has taken hold in northern Italy, as it is already widespread in other parts of the country.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said last year that Hyalomma marginatum could also be found in large parts of Portugal, Spain, southern France, Croatia and Greece.
Hyalomma ticks can transmit diseases such as Crimean-Congo fever and tick-borne typhus.
While the giant tick has been detected in Germany, researchers there say there is not yet evidence of established populations.