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Acarological risk of exposure to agents of tick-borne zoonoses in the first recognized Italian focus of Lyme borreliosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2003

A. MANNELLI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
G. BOGGIATTO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
E. GREGO
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
M. CINCO
Affiliation:
Laboratorio sulle Spirochete, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy
R. MURGIA
Affiliation:
Laboratorio sulle Spirochete, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy
S. STEFANELLI
Affiliation:
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana, Pisa, Italy
D. DE MENEGHI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
S. ROSATI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Epidemiologia, Ecologia, Facoltà di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy
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Abstract

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Acarological risk was calculated as the probability of encountering at least one host-seeking Ixodes ricinus tick infected by the pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, in 100 m transects in the province of Genoa, Italy. The seasonal pattern of I. ricinus was studied using generalized estimating equations (GEE) with negative binomial error, to consider overdispersion of tick counts and repeated sampling of the same dragging sites from April 1998 to March 1999. Prevalence of infection by B. burgdorferi s.l. was evaluated by PCR and hybridization with genospecies-specific probes. Acarological risk (R) peaked in April (R=0·2, 95% CI 0·13–0·26) and November (R=0·29, 95% CI 0·10–0·46). Borrelia garinii and B. valaisiana were the most common genospecies at our study site suggesting a major role of birds as reservoirs. DNA from Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the agent of granulocytic ehrlichiosis in humans and animals, was amplified from an adult I. ricinus.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2003 Cambridge University Press