| Summary: | This study was carried out in north-eastern Poland during two hunting seasons between 2018 and 2020. Ticks (<i>Ixodes ricinus</i> and <i>Dermacentor reticulatus</i>) were removed from wild cervids and boars and examined for the presence of <i>Borrelia</i> spirochetes and Rickettsiales members: <i>Rickettsia</i> spp. and <i>Anaplasma phagocytophilum</i>. The present study contributes to the knowledge of even-toed ungulates, which are an important reservoir of the above-mentioned pathogens and a potential source of infections for humans through ticks as vectors. Almost 40% of the collected ticks (191 out of 484) were infected with the following pathogens: 3.3% with <i>Borrelia</i> spp., 19.2% with <i>A. phagocytophilum</i> and 26.9% with <i>Rickettsia</i> spp. Only the ticks collected from cervids carried <i>Borrelia</i>. Typing of the species DNA confirmed the presence of <i>B. afzelii</i>, <i>B. garinii</i>, <i>B. lusitaniae</i> and <i>B. miyamotoi</i>. An analysis of <i>Rickettsia</i> spp. sequences using the GenBank data revealed the presence of <i>R. helvetica</i>, <i>R. raoultii</i> and <i>R. monacensis</i>. Monoinfections (79.1%) dominated over co-infections (20.9%). Among co-infections, the most frequent was <i>A. phagocytophilum</i>/<i>Rickettsia</i> spp. (70%), however co-infections, including <i>B. afzelii</i>/<i>A. phagocytophilum</i>, <i>B. afzelii</i>/<i>Rickettsia</i> spp., <i>B. miyamotoi</i>/<i>A. phagocytophilum</i> and <i>B. afzelii</i>/<i>B. garinii</i>/<i>B. lusitaniae</i>, were also noted. Significant differences were observed in the affinity of some pathogens to their vectors. Thus, <i>Borrelia</i> spp. and <i>A. phagocytophilum</i> were more frequently detected in <i>I. ricinus</i> (5.3% and 23.1%) than in <i>D. reticulatus</i> (1.2% and 15.3%). Infection frequency with <i>Rickettsia</i> spp. was similar (approximately 25–29%) in both tick species. The prevalence of <i>A. phagocytophilum</i> and <i>Rickettsia</i> spp. in ticks removed from cervids was 19.8% and 27.1%, and in ticks from wild boars it was 13.3% and 24.4%, respectively.
|
|---|