Monitoring of ticks and their pathogens from companion animals obtained by the “tekenscanner” application in The Netherlands

Abstract

Ticks are vectors for many pathogens of veterinary and medical interest. In order to monitor ticks and tick-borne pathogens, the “Tekenscanner” (Dutch for Tick scanner), a citizen science project, was launched in The Netherlands. It is a smartphone application for pet-owners to get ticks from their dog or cat, identified and checked for pathogens for free. At the same time, information about the pet and the geographic location of tick infestation becomes available for research. The application was launched in 2018, and the results of the first 6 months after launch of the app were reported. Ticks were identified based on morphology, and DNA was extracted and amplified by a panel of tick-borne pathogen-specific primers. Next, the amplicons were subjected to reverse line blot with specific probes for important pathogens to determine their presence or absence. The present paper describes the results of 2019 and 2020. There were 2260 ticks collected from 871 dogs and 255 cats (26 ticks were from an unknown host) and all pet owners were informed about the results. Four species of ticks were collected: Ixodes ricinus (90.0%), Ixodes hexagonus (7.3%), Dermacentor reticulatus (2.8%) and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (0.1%). Ixodes ricinus was the tick with the most divergent pathogens: Anaplasma sp. (1.3%), Babesia sp. (0.8%), Borrelia spp. (4.8%), Neoehrlichia sp. (3.7%) and Rickettsia helvetica (12.6%). In I. hexagonus, R. helvetica (1.8%) and Babesia sp. (0.6%) were detected and Rickettsia raoultii in D. reticulatus (16.2%). One of the two nymphs of R. sanguineus was co-infected with Borrelia and R. helvetica and the other one was uninfected. The high numbers of different pathogens found in this study suggest that companion animals, by definition synanthropic animals, and their ticks can serve as sentinels for emerging tick-borne pathogens.

Co-occurrence of <em>Borrelia burgdorferi </em>sensu lato and <em>Babesia</em> spp. DNA in <em>Ixodes ricinus</em> Ticks Collected from Vegetation and Pets in the City of Poznań, Poland

“…found in ticks from pet animals (4.7%), was almost two-fold lower than in host-seeking ticks (8.7%). Comparable prevalences were described in the Netherlands [43,44] and Austria (4.8% and 5.2%, respectively) [45]. Higher infection rates in I. ricinus mainly from dogs, were recorded in Lativa (10.7%), Germany (11.6%), Finland (11.8%), Norway (14%), and Denmark (15%) [46][47][48][49][50].…”

“…Lower prevalences of Babesia spp. in pet-derived ticks (usually from dogs) were 0.8% in the Netherlands [44], 1.0% in Finland [50], 1.4% (62/4316) in the United Kingdom [65], 2.5% in Germany [47], and 4.7% in Latvia [49]. The highest infection rates in ticks feeding upon dogs (66.8%) and cats (15.4%) were reported in southern Poland [66].…”

Co-Occurrence of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato and Babesia spp. DNA in Ixodes ricinus Ticks Collected from Vegetation and Pets in the City of Poznań, Poland

“…found in ticks from pet animals (4.7%) was almost two-fold lower than in host-seeking ticks (8.7%). Comparable prevalences were described in the Netherlands [ 44 , 45 ] and Austria (4.8% and 5.2%, respectively) [ 46 ]. Higher infection rates in I. ricinus , mainly from dogs, were recorded in Latvia (10.7%), Germany (11.6%), Finland (11.8%), Norway (14%), and Denmark (15%) [ 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…Lower prevalences of Babesia spp. in pet-derived ticks (usually from dogs) were 0.8% in the Netherlands [ 45 ], 1.0% in Finland [ 51 ], 1.4% (62/4316) in the United Kingdom [ 66 ], 2.5% in Germany [ 48 ], and 4.7% in Latvia [ 50 ]. The highest infection rates in ticks feeding upon dogs (66.8%) and cats (15.4%) were reported in southern Poland [ 67 ].…”

First Expert Elicitation of Knowledge on Possible Drivers of Observed Increasing Human Cases of Tick-Borne Encephalitis in Europe

“…However, the additional potential role of Dermacentor reticulatus was recently evidenced in experimental [ 94 ] and field [ 95 ] conditions. Dermacentor reticulatus is frequently found on pets, mainly on dogs (their movements without tick control can contribute to the spread of ticks) and is active in the winter or during the colder months [ 96 , 97 , 98 ]. Its range has also expanded in Europe [ 99 , 100 , 101 , 102 ].…”