Table 4 Presence of tick-borne pathogens in ticks feeding on mustelids. DNA lysates from I. ricinus (I. ric) and I. hexagonus (I. hex) feeding on mustelids (n) were tested by qPCR for tick-borne pathogens. Number of pathogen-positive ticks are shown, as well as the number of animals with positive ticks. Infection rate is only shown when more than 10 ticks were tested

Meles meles (n = 38)

(n = 0)

(n = 2)

(n = 1)

(n = 27)

(n = 11)

(n = 25)

(n = 5)

(n = 37)

 B. burgdorferi (s.l.) (%)

–

0

0

0 (0)

5 (45)

1 (4)

3

2 (5)

 B. miyamotoi (%)

–

0

0

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0

0 (0)

 N. mikurensis (%)

–

0

0

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0

0 (0)

 A. phagocytophilum (%)

–

0

0

1 (4)

0 (0)

1 (4)

0

2 (5)

Mustela putorius (n = 364)

(n = 1)

(n = 204)

(n = 9)

(n = 742)

(n = 46)

(n = 490)

(n = 43)

(n = 358)

 B. burgdorferi (s.l.) (%)

0

0 (0)

0

6 (1)

4 (9)

11 (2)

4 (9)

15 (4)

 B. miyamotoi (%)

0

0 (0)

0

0 (0)

1 (3)

0 (0)

1 (2)

0 (0)

 N. mikurensis (%)

0

0 (0)

2

1 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1 (0)

 A. phagocytophilum (%)

0

2 (1)

1

30 (4)

7 (15)

47 (10)

7 (16)

50 (14)

Martes martes (n = 44)

(n = 15)

(n = 22)

(n = 27)

(n = 36)

(n = 57)

(n = 9)

(n = 33)

(n = 26)

 B. burgdorferi (s.l.) (%)

0 (0)

0 (0)

2 (7)

0 (0)

4 (7)

0

6 (18)

0 (0)

 B. miyamotoi (%)

1 (15)

0 (0)

1 (4)

0 (0)

3 (5)

0

4 (12)

0 (0)

 N. mikurensis (%)

0 (0)

0 (0)

6 (22)

2 (6)

5 (9)

3

8 (24)

3 (12)

 A. phagocytophilum (%)

0 (0)

0 (0)

3 (11)

5 (14)

24 (42)

4

15 (45)

5 (19)

Martes foina (n = 39)

(n = 1)

(n = 16)

(n = 3)

(n = 31)

(n = 44)

(n = 9)

(n = 22)

(n = 24)

 B. burgdorferi (s.l.) (%)

0

0 (0)

1

0 (0)

8 (18)

0

5 (23)

0 (0)

 B. miyamotoi (%)

0

0 (0)

0

0 (0)

2 (5)

0

1 (5)

0 (0)

 N. mikurensis (%)

0

1 (6)

1

2 (6)

5 (11)

1

6 (27)

4 (17)

 A. phagocytophilum (%)

0

0 (0)

0

0 (0)

2 (5)

0

2 (9)

0 (0)