The diversity of tick-borne bacteria and parasites in ticks collected from the Strandja Nature Park in south-eastern Bulgaria

Nader, Julian; Król, Nina; Pfeffer, Martin; Ohlendorf, Valerie; Marklewitz, Marco; Drosten, Christian; Junglen, Sandra; Obiegala, Anna

doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2721-z

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…When the overall Borrelia prevalence found in the present study is compared to results of other similar studies in Serbia, we see wide variations between localities, ranging from 10 to 40.7% ( Simin et al, 2020 ; Banovic et al, 2021b ; Stosic et al, 2021 ). Compared to neighboring countries of Serbia, the Borrelia prevalence in ticks found in our study is higher compared to that of Croatia ( Tadin et al, 2016 ), Bulgaria ( Nader et al, 2018 ), and Romania ( Kalmar et al, 2020 ). In contrast, Borrelia spp.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Clinical Aspects and Detection of Emerging Rickettsial Pathogens: A “One Health” Approach Study in Serbia, 2020

Banović

Díaz-Sánchez

Simin³

et al. 2022

Front. Microbiol.

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Ticks carry numerous pathogens that, if transmitted, can cause disease in susceptible humans and animals. The present study describes our approach on how to investigate clinical presentations following tick bites in humans. To this aim, the occurrence of major tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in human blood samples (n = 85) and the ticks collected (n = 93) from the same individuals were tested using an unbiased high-throughput pathogen detection microfluidic system. The clinical symptoms were characterized in enrolled patients. In patients with suspected TBP infection, serological assays were conducted to test for the presence of antibodies against specific TBPs. A field study based on One Health tenets was further designed to identify components of a potential chain of infection resulting in Rickettsia felis infection in one of the patients. Ticks species infesting humans were identified as Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (s.l.), Dermacentor reticulatus, and Haemaphysalis punctata. Five patients developed local skin lesions at the site of the tick bite including erythema migrans, local non-specific reactions, and cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction. Although Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Babesia microti, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Candidatus Cryptoplasma sp. DNAs were detected in tick samples, different Rickettsia species were the most common TBPs identified in the ticks. The presence of TBPs such as Rickettsia helvetica, Rickettsia monacensis, Borrelia lusitaniae, Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia afzelii, A. phagocytophilum, and B. microti in ticks was further confirmed by DNA sequencing. Two of the patients with local skin lesions had IgG reactive against spotted fever group rickettsiae, while IgM specific to B. afzelii, Borrelia garinii, and Borrelia spielmanii were detected in the patient with erythema migrans. Although R. felis infection was detected in one human blood sample, none of the components of the potential chain of infection considered in this study tested positive to this pathogen either using direct pathogen detection in domestic dogs or xenodiagnosis in ticks collected from domestic cats. The combination of high-throughput screening of TBPs and One Health approaches might help characterize chains of infection leading to human infection by TBPs, as well as prevalence of emerging rickettsial pathogens in the Balkan region.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Clinical Aspects and Detection of Emerging Rickettsial Pathogens: A “One Health” Approach Study in Serbia, 2020

Banović

Díaz-Sánchez

Simin³

et al. 2022

Front. Microbiol.

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“…Although the established B. burgdorferi seroprevalence in horses in Northern Bulgaria is lower than that reported in Southern Bulgaria (15.1% and 23.2%, respectively), this difference was statistically not significant (P = 0.05). The morbidity of human Lyme borreliosis in Northern Bulgaria is higher than that observed in Southern Bulgaria (Kunchev, 2018), which could be attributable to different Borrelia genospecies (Nader et al, 2018). Our results (15.1%) are similar to those reported from Germany (16.1%; Kasbohrer and Schonberg, 1990), Sweden (16.8%; Egenvall et al, 2001) and Romania (11.92%;Kiss et al, 2011), but these studies used IFA and ELISA for the detection of antibodies.…”

Section: And Ninesupporting

confidence: 80%

Seroprevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp. and Borrelia burgdorferi infections in horses: first report from Northern Bulgaria – Short communication

Tsachev

Baymakova

Pantchev

2019

Acta Veterinaria Hungarica

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Lyme borreliosis, granulocytic anaplasmosis and monocytic ehrlichiosis are well studied in humans and dogs. In horses, these diseases are not widely investigated and limited information is available about their occurrence. The purpose of this study was to present the first ELISA-based report on the seroprevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp. and Borrelia burgdorferi in horses from Northern Bulgaria. A total of 192 horses were investigated from three regions in Northern Bulgaria (Northwestern, North-Central and Northeastern Bulgaria). All equine sera were tested for A. phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp. and B. burgdorferi antibodies by a commercial rapid ELISA test. Antibodies against A. phagocytophilum were found in all the three regions at a mean frequency of 12% (23/192), ranging from 9.38 to 15.63% by region. Antibodies against Ehrlichia spp. were found in horses from one region (Northeastern) at a rate of 0.5% (1/192). Anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies were detected in all the three regions with a mean frequency of 15.1% (29/192), ranging from 14.06 to 17.19% by region. A co-exposure to A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi was observed in 6.3% of the cases (12/192). This is the first report on the natural exposure of horses to these bacteria (A. phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp. and B. burgdorferi) in Northern Bulgaria.

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“…The data are consistent with observations reported in other countries (Nordberg 2012, Asman and Nowak 2013). Observations of coinfection in I. ricinus with the pathogens of two (HGA-LD) agents in Europe have been described since 2000 in Italy (Aureli et al 2012) and were equal to 0.9% in Germany (Tappe et al 2014), 1.6% in the Netherlands (Wielinga et al 2006), 5% in Slovakia (Derdakova et al 2003), from 0.93% (Wójcik-Fatla et al 2009) to 8.3% (Stańczak et al 2004) in Poland, and 9.3% in Bulgaria (Nader et al 2018). Infection of ticks with three pathogens occurs much less frequently—0.3% of sampled I. persulcatus in Russia (Swanson et al 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence ofAnaplasma phagocytophiluminIxodes ricinusandDermacentor reticulatusand Coinfection withBorrelia burgdorferiand Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Western Ukraine

Ben

Lozynskyi

2019

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

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Introduction: Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease (LD), are widespread in Western Ukraine. However, relatively little is known about Anaplasma phagocytophilum in this region. This study examined patterns of infection with A. phagocytophilum in two tick vectors compared with the better studied TBEV and B. burgdorferi.Materials: Ticks were collected in three different ecosystems of the Western Ukraine during 2009–2014. Samples were examined for pathogen detection using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and logistic regression models were developed to assess the significance of different factors.Results: Among the three selected ecological systems of the Western region of Ukraine, 5130 ticks belonging to Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus were collected between 2009 and 2014. They were grouped into 366 pools and were tested by PCR for A. phagocytophilum. A subsample (1620 ticks, 162 pools) of the ticks was concurrently tested by PCR for A. phagocytophilum, B. burgdorferi, and TBEV. Overall, there was no trend in the proportion of positive ticks across years (p > 0.05). However, the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum was higher (27.4%) in I. ricinus than in D. reticulatus (15.9%) (OR = 2.69; 95% CI, 1.52–4.94 (Lower, Upper 95% CI)). Infection was more common in forested habitats (OR = 1.89; 95% CI, 1.07–3.36) and during the later summer–early autumn (3.78; 95% CI, 1.79–8.06). B. burgdorferi was found in 29.3% and 31.9% of I. ricinus and D. reticulatus, respectively; and TBEV was found in 6.3% and 14.5% of I. ricinus and D. reticulatus. Coinfection of A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi occurred more often than chance and was more frequent than any other combination of pathogens (p = 0.031).Conclusions: Our study is the first to explore the potential relationship between the ecosystems, vectors, and the presence of Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (HGA) and other tick-borne infections in Western Ukraine. Anaplasma demonstrated a greater prevalence in I. ricinus in the forested area in Western Ukraine. Altogether, HGA, LD, and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) pathogens are actively circulating in these ecosystems and have the potential to coinfect vectors that might increase the risk of transmitting multiple pathogens to humans during host feeding by individual ticks.

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The diversity of tick-borne bacteria and parasites in ticks collected from the Strandja Nature Park in south-eastern Bulgaria

Cited by 18 publications

References 60 publications

Clinical Aspects and Detection of Emerging Rickettsial Pathogens: A “One Health” Approach Study in Serbia, 2020

Clinical Aspects and Detection of Emerging Rickettsial Pathogens: A “One Health” Approach Study in Serbia, 2020

Seroprevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp. and Borrelia burgdorferi infections in horses: first report from Northern Bulgaria – Short communication

Prevalence ofAnaplasma phagocytophiluminIxodes ricinusandDermacentor reticulatusand Coinfection withBorrelia burgdorferiand Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus in Western Ukraine

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