Abstract
Objectives: Tick-borne diseases have emerged as an increasing medical problem in the world. Being the most prevalent ixodid ticks in Europe, Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus are responsible for transmission of numerous zoonotic pathogens (e.g., human granulocytic anaplasmosis and Lyme borreliosis). Despite their public health significance, studies on the prevalence of tick-borne agents are scare for Eastern Europe. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (B. burgdorferi s. l.) in ixodid ticks from Southeastern Ukraine.Methods: Over a 5-year period (2014–2018), 358 questing and 389 engorged ixodid ticks were collected from Southeastern Ukraine (Zaporizhzhya region). The ticks were identified as Dermacentor marginatus, D. reticulatus, I. ricinus, and Rhipicephalus rossicus. Nucleic acid samples extracted from tick pools were subjected to RT-PCR analyses for A. phagocytophilum, E. chaffeensis, and B. burgdorferi s. l.Results: The examined ixodid ticks tested negative for the aforementioned pathogens with the exception of I. ricinus ticks. For questing I. ricinus ticks, minimum infection rates of A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi s. l. were, respectively, 4.2–7.7% and 8.6–12.7%.Conclusions: These findings will be valuable for medical and veterinary practitioners when risks associated with tick-borne diseases are assessed for southeastern regions of Ukraine.
Highlights
To date, vector-borne diseases represent a health problem of increasing significance in the world
The PCR results showed that all the analyzed pools of D. marginatus (n = 11), D. reticulatus (n = 21), and Rh. rossicus (n = 29) ticks were negative for A. phagocytophilum and E. chaffeensis (Table 1)
This study is the first to investigate the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum, B. burgdorferi, and E. chaffeensis in ixodid ticks collected from Southeastern Ukraine
Summary
Vector-borne diseases represent a health problem of increasing significance in the world. I. ricinus ticks are the competent vector for such zoonotic agents as Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato In addition to being the proven main vector for some of Babesia spp. and Rickettsia spp., D. reticulatus ticks can harbor other zoonotic agents (e.g., A. phagocytophilum) (Rubel et al 2016). Despite the medical importance of the tick-borne diseases (Jahfari et al 2014, Boulanger et al 2019, Riccardi et al 2019, Vandekerckhove et al 2019, Rogovskyy et al 2020, Yurchenko et al 2020), very few studies have examined the prevalence of the aforementioned pathogens in Eastern Europe, Ukraine. The objective of this study was to examine ixodid ticks collected from Southeastern Ukraine for the presence of A. phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and B. burgdorferi s. l
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