TPM13081 924..927


Coincident Tick Infestations in
the Nostrils of Wild Chimpanzees

and a Human in Uganda
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Citation Hamer, Sarah A., Andrew B. Bernard, Ronan M. Donovan,
Jessica A. Hartel, Richard W. Wrangham, Emily Otali, and Tony
L. Goldberg. 2013. "Coincident Tick Infestations in the Nostrils of
Wild Chimpanzees and a Human in Uganda." American Journal of
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 89 (5): 924–927.

Published Version doi:10.4269/ajtmh.13-0081

Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:13456933

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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 89(5), 2013, pp. 924–927
doi:10.4269/ajtmh.13-0081
Copyright © 2013 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Coincident Tick Infestations in the Nostrils of Wild Chimpanzees and a Human in Uganda

Sarah A. Hamer, Andrew B. Bernard, Ronan M. Donovan, Jessica A. Hartel, Richard W. Wrangham,
Emily Otali, and Tony L. Goldberg*

Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; Freelance Nature Photographer,
Merchantville, New Jersey; Freelance Nature Photographer, Helena Montana; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern

California, Los Angeles, California; Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts;
Makerere University Biological Field Station, Fort Portal, Uganda; Department of Pathobiological Sciences,

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Abstract. Ticks in the nostrils of humans visiting equatorial African forests have been reported sporadically for
decades, but their taxonomy and natural history have remained obscure. We report human infestation with a nostril
tick in Kibale National Park, Uganda, coincident with infestation of chimpanzees in the same location with nostril
ticks, as shown by high-resolution digital photography. The human-derived nostril tick was identified morphologically
and genetically as a nymph of the genus Amblyomma, but the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal RNA or the nuclear
intergenic transcribed spacer 2 DNA sequences of the specimen were not represented in GenBank. These ticks may
represent a previously uncharacterized species that is adapted to infesting chimpanzee nostrils as a defense against
grooming. Ticks that feed upon apes and humans may facilitate cross-species transmission of pathogens, and the risk
of exposure is likely elevated for persons who frequent ape habitats.

INTRODUCTION

Africa contains a great diversity of ticks, many of which
transmit diseases of considerable importance to global human
and animal health.1,2 Over several decades, sporadic cases of
nostril ticks have been reported in persons who have visited
equatorial African forests. In 1960, Walton documented
three cases of nostril ticks in visitors to the forests of western
Uganda, including Kibale Forest,3 which is now Kibale
National Park, the location of our study. Walton speculated
that such ticks “might normally infest the nasal passages
of anthropoid apes,” on the basis that chimpanzees (Pan
troglodytes schweinfurthii) were common in each forest
where nostril ticks had been reported. Morphologic exami-
nation proved inconclusive at the time, but it was hypothe-
sized that these nostril ticks might be nymphal stages
of A. paulopunctatum, which infests wild suids.4 In 2008,
Aronsen and Robbins reported feeding to repletion of a
nostril tick in a researcher visiting Kibale National Park to
study primates and elephants.5 Morphologic examination
showed the tick to be a nymph of the genus Amblyomma,
consistent with earlier descriptions of Walton, but identifica-
tion to species was again not possible.
In this study, we report molecular characterization of a

nostril tick from a researcher visiting Kibale National Park,
Uganda. In addition, using high-resolution digital photog-
raphy, we document coincident infestation of many young
chimpanzees in Kibale with nostril ticks. Our analyses sug-
gest that nostril ticks may commonly infest wild apes and
may sporadically infest human visitors to ape habitats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Kibale National Park, western Uganda (0°13¢–0°41¢N,
30°19¢–30°32¢E) is a semi-deciduous forested park with an
area of 795 km2 that contains a high diversity and biomass

of wild non-human primates.6 Chimpanzees have been
studied continuously in Kibale since 1987, and research
projects of varying durations have focused on other non-
human primates in Kibale, other animals, plants, persons,
and the physical environment.

7
These activities create a com-

munity of researchers and associated personnel who spend
considerable time in the forest. Such activities increase rates
of microbial transmission between humans and wild apes.8,9

A multi-decade, concerted effort has led to a remarkable
degree of habituation of the Kanyawara community of
chimpanzees in Kibale,10,11 which at the time of our study
contained approximately 55 chimpanzees. As part of the
regular monitoring of this chimpanzee community, digital
photographs are obtained. In 2011 and 2012, several young
chimpanzees were observed with nostril ticks, and efforts
were made to document these cases by using high-resolution
photography. Approximately 45 chimpanzees were regularly
photographed during the study period. Photographs were
taken opportunistically at close range with both digital
SLR and point-and-shoot cameras. The cameras were set
to a high ISO speed (at least 2,000), high frames per second
(at least 6), and a wide aperture (f/2.8 at 200 mm). Effort
was made to shoot at an angle that captured the interior
of the nostrils. A chimpanzee was considered infested if a
smooth, rounded, tick-like object, able to be differentiated
from debris, was seen partially or fully occluding the nostril
in one or more photograph.
In June 2012, immediately upon returning to the United

States after approximately three weeks in Kibale, one of
us (TLG) discovered a tick in his right nostril. The
tick was attached to the upper lateral nasal cartilage at the
level of the rhinion (osseocartilaginous junction with the
nasal bone). As reported in previous studies,3,5 the infesta-
tion caused mild irritation but no epistaxis. The tick was
removed intact by using forceps and placed in RNAlater
solution (Invitrogen, Grand Island, NY). Dorsal and ventral
photographs of the tick were obtained by using a SMZ-
745T Zoom Stereo Photo Microscope with 2 + auxiliary
objective (Nikon Instruments, Melville, NY), and a leg plus
an additional tibia and tarsus from a second leg were
removed for DNA extraction.

*Address correspondence to Tony L. Goldberg, Department of
Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison,
WI 53706. E-mail: tgoldberg@vetmed.wisc.edu

924



Total DNA was extracted by using the DNeasy Blood
and Tissue kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, CA) and used as tem-
plate in separate touchdown polymerase chain reactions
to amplify a 360-basepair fragment of the tick mitochon-
drial 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)12 and the 1,041-basepair
tick nuclear 5.8S–28S rRNA intergenic transcribed spacer
2 (ITS2).13 DNA extracts from two ticks of known identity
(A. maculatum and A. americanum, collected in Texas)
were used as positive controls. After purification of the
amplicons (ExoSAP-IT; Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA), bidi-
rectional Sanger sequencing was performed on an ABI
3730xl DNA Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City,
CA) at Eton Bioscience (San Diego, CA).
Based on preliminary assessments of tick morphology

and DNA sequences, 12S rRNA and ITS2 sequences of
all African Amblyomma ticks in GenBank were down-
loaded and used in phylogenetic analyses. Sequences were
aligned by using Clustal Omega

14
with manual adjust-

ment. Phylogenetic trees were constructed from aligned
sequences by using the neighbor-joining method15 imple-
mented in the computer program MEGA5,

16
with a

maximum composite likelihood distance correction and
1,000 bootstrap replicates of the data. Sequences of 12S
rRNA and ITS2 from the nostril tick, A. maculatum, and
A. americanum were deposited in Genbank (accession
numbers KC538939–KC538944).

RESULTS

During January 2011–July 2012, high-resolution photog-
raphy identified nine chimpanzees with ticks in their nostrils
of 45 chimpanzees photographed, resulting in a period
prevalence of 20% (95% confidence interval = 10.9–33.8%;
Figure 1). Some chimpanzees were photographed with nos-
tril ticks on more than one occasion, including in alternat-
ing nostrils, indicating independent infestations (Figure 1).
The tick removed from the nostril of the researcher was
identified morphologically as a partially engorged nymph
belonging to the genus Amblyomma (Figure 2), but species-
level morphologic identification was not possible; it is
generally not possible in practice to identify wild-caught
African nymphal ticks of this genus to the species level
based on morphologic characteristics.

17
DNA sequences of

12S rRNA and ITS2 did not match any sequences in
GenBank but were closest to A. rhinocerotis in the case of
12S rRNA (85.2% nucleotide similarity) and A. variegatum
in the case of ITS-2 (94.4% nucleotide similarity). Phylo-
genetic trees of 12S rRNA and ITS2 showed the nostril tick
to cluster with known African Amblyomma species but to
be divergent from any published sequence

13,18
(Figure 3).

DISCUSSION

We are aware of only two previous reports of infestations
of human nostrils with ticks, and these infestations both
occurred in visitors to the forests of western Uganda.3,5

Anecdotally, however, such infections are not uncommon.
For example, the researcher infested in the current study
recalls two prior tick infestations in his nostrils during
two previous visits to Kibale over approximately nine years.
In addition, two of us (JAH and RWW) recall hosting

nostril ticks during visits to Kibale, and reports of such
infestations from other researchers and field personnel in
Kibale occur intermittently.
The nostril tick that we identified was a member of

the genus Amblyomma, as has been reported,
3,5

but DNA
sequences of this particular species did not previously exist
in GenBank. Thus, this tick is either a recognized species
that has not yet been sequenced or an unrecognized species.
Adult specimens would likely be necessary to make this
determination, which might necessitate either trapping an
adult or allowing a nymph to feed to repletion and molt.
To date, however, our efforts to recover ticks from the

Figure 1. Nostril ticks in young chimpanzees in Kibale National
Park, Uganda, 2011–2012. A, Thatcher, born in November 2011,
with right nostril tick on February 27, 2012. B, Thatcher with a
left nostril tick on July 24, 2012. C, Thatcher with both nostrils
occluded by ticks on December 2, 2011. D, Betty, born in January
2011, with a left nostril tick on January 23, 2011. Photo credits:
Andrew B. Bernard, Ronan M. Donovan, and Jessica A. Hartel.

Figure 2. Tick removed from a human nostril in July 2012
after field research in Kibale National Park, Uganda. A, Dorsal.
B, Ventral. Note that leg 4 on the right side and the tibia and
tarsus of leg 2 on left side were removed for DNA extraction.
Scale bar = 1 mm. Photo credit: Gabriel L. Hamer.

NOSTRIL TICKS IN CHIMPANZEES AND A HUMAN 925



forest floor in locations frequented by chimpanzees have
been unsuccessful, and we have not yet had the opportunity
to allow a nymph to feed to repletion. In Africa, a total
of 22 tick species in the genus Amblyomma have been
described,19 of which 10 are known to occur in Uganda and
5 others possibly occur there.

17
Limited genetic data on

these species are available; for example, as of July 7, 2013,
mitochondrial 12S rRNA or ITS2 sequences of only four
such species were represented in GenBank, and even fewer
African Amblyomma species were represented by sequences
of other loci.
We note that we likely underestimated infestation rates

of chimpanzees because ticks may have been present at

times when animals were not photographed, and ticks
may have been present but minimally engorged or attached
deep within the nostril and therefore not visible. We also
note that it is not definitive that the tick removed from
the human nostril was of the same species as the ticks
observed in chimpanzee nostrils. Despite the remarkable
degree of habituation of the Kanyawara chimpanzees, it
remains impractical to collect ticks directly from the nostrils
of these wild apes. Nevertheless, the coincidence of the human
infestation with a high frequency of chimpanzee infestation in
the same location is suggestive.
Despite close daily observation and high-resolution pho-

tography, we did not observe engorged ticks on the bodies
of the chimpanzees studied, even on hairless regions.
Grooming is a frequent activity among chimpanzees, and its
importance for social bonding cannot be overstated.20 A tick
that specializes on chimpanzees would clearly benefit from
defenses against grooming, such as seeking an attachment
site anatomically inaccessible to manual removal; infesta-
tion of the nostril would appear to be ideal in this regard.
In this light, it is noteworthy that the chimpanzee louse
(Pediculus schaeffi) will suddenly become stiff and motion-
less when exposed to light, even falling from the hair like
a piece of debris, presumably to evade detection when the
hair of a chimpanzee is parted during grooming.21 Such

countermeasures to grooming may be common adaptations
of primate ectoparasites.
Many Ambloymma ticks are three-hosts ticks, requiring

blood meals from three separate vertebrate hosts, with off-
host time spent on the forest floor or on vegetation, includ-
ing underbrush and the forest canopy.22 In sub-Saharan
Africa, Amblyomma spp. ticks transmit Ehrlichia ruminantium,
Rickettsia africae, and Coxiella burnetii, which are the agents
of heartwater disease, African tick bite fever, and Q fever,
respectively.4,23,24 Our findings raise the possibility that nos-
tril ticks could transmit these or similar diseases between
humans and chimpanzees, as well as to and from other ter-
restrial or arboreal species on which the ticks feed.4 The risks
of zoonotic transmission may be increased for researchers,
research personnel, and others who spend time in forested
habitats frequented by chimpanzees.8,9

Finally, we note that we did not discover our nostril tick until
after the researcher had returned to his home country, similar
to a previous report.

5
The subtle host-seeking and attachment

behavior that must accompany tick infestation of the highly
innervated mammalian nostril supports the hypothesis that this
tick is adapted to infesting nasal passages. More generally,
although infestation with nostril ticks is a rare event, a great
many persons visit wild ape habitats each year for such pur-
poses as tourism and research.7 Rapid international travel of
persons unknowingly infested with nostril ticks and other sim-
ilar parasites could, under the right circumstances, lead to the
establishment of exotic tick populations or the transmission of
tick-borne diseases far from their countries of origin.25,26

Received February 12, 2013. Accepted for publication August 5, 2013.

Published online September 30, 2013.

Acknowledgments: We thank the Uganda Wildlife Authority and
the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology for
granting us permission to conduct research in Kibale National Park;
the Makerere University Biological Field Station, the Kibale
Chimpanzee Project, and the Kibale EcoHealth Project for pro-
viding support in the field; and Lorenza Beati-Ziegler and Richard
G. Robbins for helpful comments and discussion.

Figure 3. Phylogenetic trees of nostril tick and other ticks of the genus Amblyomma from 12S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) (top) and nuclear
intergenic transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) (bottom) sequence alignments constructed by using the neighbor-joining method. All African
Amblyomma species in Genbank were included, as were A. americanum and A. maculatum from Texas that were processed along with the
nostril tick as positive controls. Alignment lengths were 319 and 1,015 nucleotide positions, respectively. GenBank accession numbers are
shown in parentheses. Numbers above branches indicate bootstrap values based on 1,000 resamplings of the data. Scale bars indicate
nucleotide substitutions per site.

926 HAMER AND OTHERS



Financial support: This study was supported in part by National
Institutes of Health grant TW009237 as part of the joint National
Institutes of Health–National Science Foundation Ecology of Infec-
tious Disease program and the United Kingdom Economic and
Social Research Council.

Authors’ addresses: Sarah A. Hamer, Department of Veterinary
Integrative Biosciences, Texas A&M University, College Station,
TX, E-mail: shamer@cvm.tamu.edu. Andrew B. Bernard,
Merchantville, NJ, E-mail: andrew.b.bernard@gmail.com. Ronan
M. Donovan, Helena, MT, E-mail: ronmdon@gmail.com. Jessica A.
Hartel, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA, E-mail: hartelj@gmail.com. Richard W.
Wrangham, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA, E-mail: wrangham@fas.harvard.edu.
Emily Otali, Makerere University Biological Field Station, Fort
Portal, Uganda, E-mail: eotali@yahoo.co.uk. Tony L. Goldberg,
Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Madison, WI, E-mail: tgoldberg@vetmed.wisc.edu.

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