Abstract
To determine whether Dermacentor reticulatus ticks are infected by Borrelia spp., Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis, or Anaplasma phagocytophilum, we collected questing adults in the outskirts of Berlin, Germany, examined them for the presence of DNA of these pathogens, and compared the infection rates to those of sympatric Ixodes ricinus ticks. Questing D. reticulatus adults appeared not to harbor the bacterial pathogens that are prevalent in I. ricinus ticks. Based on our sample size, the estimated prevalence of each of these pathogens in D. reticulatus ticks would be well below three tenth of a percent (<0.3 %). For pathogens which so rarely infect D. reticulatus ticks, this tick likely plays no epidemiologic vector role for either their enzootic transmission cycle in nature or their transmission to people.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Udo Bischoff, Nicole Held, Mandy Marbler-Pötter, and Tanja Meier-Schünemann for expert technical assistance.
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Richter, D., Kohn, C. & Matuschka, FR. Absence of Borrelia spp., Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in questing adult Dermacentor reticulatus ticks. Parasitol Res 112, 107–111 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-3110-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-012-3110-8