Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Acari : Ixodidae), the brown dog, tick parasitizing humans in Brazil

The objective of this paper is to describe four cases of human parasitism by Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latrielle) in Brazil. During an investigation regarding the species of ectoparasites of domestic dogs from the metropolitan region of Recife, Pernambuco state, four dog owners were found to be parasitized by ticks, The ticks were collected from these individuals and their dogs. All the ticks were identified as Rhipicephalus sanguineus. These are, to our knowledge, the first four cases of human parasitism by this tick species in Brazil. The possible implications of this finding are discussed here.