Ixodid ticks and zoonotic tick-borne pathogens of the Western Balkans

Kapo, Naida; Zuber Bogdanović, Ivana; Gagović, Ema; Žekić, Marina; Veinović, Gorana; Sukara, Ratko; Mihaljica, Darko; Adžić, Bojan; Kadriaj, Përparim; Cvetkovikj, Aleksandar; Djadjovski, Igor; Potkonjak, Aleksandar; Velo, Enkelejda; Savić, Sara; Tomanović, Snežana; Omeragić, Jasmin; Beck, Relja; Hodžić, Adnan

doi:10.1186/s13071-023-06116-1

Parasites & Vectors

Table 3 Zoonotic tick-borne pathogens affecting humans in the Western Balkans

From: Ixodid ticks and zoonotic tick-borne pathogens of the Western Balkans

Country	Pathogen	Host	Prevalence (%)	Method	References
Albania	Rickettsia spp.	Human	2.9	IFAT, PCR	[26]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Human	81.8	ELISA	[20, 21]
	CCHFV	Human	38.2	IFAT, ELISA, PCR	[26]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	R. conorii	Human	1.6–1.7	CFT, IFAT	[42]
	C. burnetii	Human	19.0–22.4	CFT, IFAT	[42]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Ioxides ricinus, human	66.7 (ticks), > 50 cases (humans)	IFAT, ELISA, WB, PCR-Seq	[43, 216,217,218]
Croatia	Babesia divergens	Human	Case report	Biopsy, staining	[78]
	B. microti	Human	0.98	IFAT, PCR-Seq	[48, 77]
	E. chaffeensis	Human	4.9	IFAT	[77]
	A. phagocytophilum	Human	< 38.0	IFAT, PCR	[73, 219]
	Rickettsia spp.	Tick, human	7.9–68.1	IFAT, PCR	[48, 60, 77]
	R. monacensis	Ioxides ricinus, human	21.0 (ticks), 1.5 (human, skin biopsies)	PCR	[48]
	R. conorii	Human	4.2/5.0	IFAT, ELISA, PCR	[53, 55, 58, 60, 136]
	C. burnetii	Human	170 cases	CFT, IFAT	[58]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Ixodes ricinus, human	17.7 (ticks), 9.98–70	ELISA, PCR	[48, 86]
	B. afzelii	Ixodes ricinus, human	2.0–46.4 (ticks), 80 reports (humans)	PCR, PCR–RFLP, PCR-Seq, RLBH	[48, 83, 223]
	B. garinii	Ixodes ricinus, human	2.0–4.0; 2.3 (humans)	PCR-Seq, RLBH	[69]
	B. bavrensis	Human	2.3	PCR-Seq	[69]
	TBEV	Tick, human	100 cases	CFT, IFAT, ELISA	[114, 224,225,226]
	BHAV	Human	0–31.5	ELISA, RT-qPCR	[94,95,96,97,98,99]
Montenegro	Babesia spp.	Human	12 cases	Biopsy, blood smear, PCR	[117, 121]
	E. canis	Human	64 cases	IFAT, ELISA, WB	[118]
	R. conorii	Human	297 cases	IFAT, ELISA, WB	[118]
	C. burnetii	Human	158 cases	IFAT	[118]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Human	> 10 cases	IFAT, ELISA, WB, PCR	[117, 121]
North Macedonia	R. sibirica mongolitimonae	Human	Case report	IFAT	[136]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Human	2.2–18.8	IFAT, ELISA	[134, 135]
	TBEV	Human	2.2	VNT	[135]
	CCHFV	Human	10 cases	Isolation, IFA, ELISA	[98, 129, 130, 188]
Serbia	E. chaffeensis	Human	Two cases	IFAT	[181, 182]
	Rickettsia spp.	Human	Two cases	Mf qPCR	[157, 166, 172, 175]
	R. helvetica	Ixodes ricinus, human	7.4–54.0, two cases (humans)	PCR-Seq, mf qPCR	[163, 166, 172,173,174]
	R. slovaca	Haemaphysalis sp. from human	One case	mf qPCR	[171, 172]
	R. conorii	Human	1.9–25.0	IFAT	[170]
	R. aeshlimanii	Ixodes ricinus from humans	3.0	mf qPCR	[163]
	R. acari	Human	4.0–10.4	IFAT	[170]
	R. felis	Ixodes ricinus from humans	4.3	mf qPCR, RT-PCR	[163, 166]
	Borrelia spp.	Ticks from humans	19.35	RT-PCR	[166]
	B. burgdorferi s.l	Human	8.1–54.2	IFAT, ELISA, WB	[148, 149, 157]
	B. afzelii	Human	One case	RT-PCR, mf qPCR	[163]
	TBEV (EU subtype)	Ixodes ricinus, human	2.0–6.6 (ticks), 0.3–13.2 (humans)	IFAT, ELISA	[185,186,187]
	CCHFV	Ixodes ricinus, Hyalomma marginatum, human	Isolates, case reports (humans)	Isolation, IFAT, PCR	[188, 189]

CFT Complement fixation test, DF dark field microscopy, ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, HI hemagglutination inhibition assay, IFAT indirect immunofluorescence test, mf qPCR microfluidic real-time PCR, PCR-RFLP restriction fragment length polymorphism PCR, PCR-Seq PCR followed by DNA sequencing, qPCR real-time PCR, RLBH reverse line blot hybridization, RT-PCR reverse transcription PCR, s.l. sensu lato, VNT virus neutralization test, WB western blot

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