Tick-borne pathogens prevalence in Sicilian ticks

A deeper knowledge about the presence of tick species in Sicily would be helpful for the control of tick-borne disease and to understand the role of ticks as vectors of animal and zoonotic pathogens. Microorganisms belonging to genera Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rickettsia, and Coxiella are indeed causative agents of important infectious diseases for humans and animals. From 2004 to 2010, ticks were collected from the whole Sicily, including feeding ticks collected from infested animals and questing ticks. PCRs for the detection of Anaplasma spp., A. marginale, A. phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia spp., Rickettsia spp., and Coxiella burnetii were thus performed. The presence of these pathogens was tested in order to evaluate the vector species mainly associated with their maintenance. A total of 5033 ticks was collected and analyzed in this study. Of these, 567 were questing ticks and 4466 were collected from animals. Analyzed ticks species included Dermacentor marginatus, Haemaphisalis punctata, Hyalomma lusitanicum, Hyalomma marginatum, Ixodes ricinus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Rhipicephalus turanicus. All tick species were found to be infected. Data obtained allowed assigning the relevance of each tick species as carrier of the pathogens. In particular I. ricinus seems to have a more relevant role as tick-borne vector. The results of this study are important to understand the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases in Sicily.