Purpose

In recent decades, the incidence and distribution of tick-borne diseases have increased worldwide, attracting the attention of both clinicians and veterinarians. In Sardinia, notifiable tick-borne diseases are spreading and Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) rickettsiosis continues to be endemic with an incidence of 10/10,000 inhabitants per year. Furthermore, ticks can transfer more than one pathogen after a single blood meal from a coinfected host or after multiple feeding on different infected hosts. The aim of this study was to update information on ticks and tick-borne diseases, focusing also on the presence of coinfection in Sardinian ticks.

Methods

The presence of protozoan (Theileria and Babesia species) and bacterial pathogens (Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia canis, Chlamydia spp., Bartonella spp., and Coxiella burnetii) was evaluated in 230 ticks collected from different hosts in Sardinia.

Results

PCR and sequencing analyses highlighted that the 59% of ticks were infected with at least one pathogen while the 15% resulted in coinfection by double and triple pathogens. Among the double co-infections, those of E. canis/C. burnetii, Babesia sp. Anglona/Ch. psittaci and Babesia sp. Anglona/C. burnetii revealed a statistically significant index of coinfection.

Conclusion

This study identifies new pathogens in Sardinian ticks and updates the information about tick-borne diseases in the island. We also provide new results on the presence of coinfections in collected ticks. The knowledge about the diversity of ticks and tick-borne diseases circulating in Sardinia is a necessary step toward implementing effective tick-borne disease prevention and control programs.

中文翻译：

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从撒丁岛宿主收集的蜱中蜱传病原体的共存：更新。

目的

近几十年来，蜱传疾病的发病率和分布在全球范围内有所增加，引起了临床医生和兽医的关注。在撒丁岛，应通报的蜱传疾病正在蔓延，地中海斑点热 (MSF) 立克次体病继续流行，每年有 10/10,000 名居民发病。此外，在来自共感染宿主的单次血餐后或在不同感染宿主上多次进食后，蜱可以转移不止一种病原体。本研究的目的是更新有关蜱虫和蜱传疾病的信息，同时关注撒丁岛蜱虫合并感染的情况。

方法

在从撒丁岛的不同宿主收集的 230 只蜱中评估了原生动物（泰勒虫和巴贝虫属）和细菌病原体（立克次体属、无形体属、犬埃立克体、衣原体、巴尔通体属和伯内氏杆菌）的存在。

结果

PCR 和测序分析强调，59% 的蜱虫感染了至少一种病原体，而 15% 的蜱虫同时感染了双重和三重病原体。在双重感染中，E. canis / C.burnetii，Babesia sp。安格罗纳/ Ch。鹦鹉螺和巴贝斯虫。Anglona /贝氏柯克斯揭示共感染统计学显著索引。

结论

这项研究确定了撒丁岛蜱的新病原体，并更新了岛上蜱传疾病的信息。我们还提供了关于收集的蜱中存在共感染的新结果。了解撒丁岛流行的蜱虫和蜱传疾病的多样性是实施有效的蜱传疾病预防和控制计划的必要步骤。