Ticks may carry several pathogens as vectors and their pathogen load may vary due to differences in geography, climate and vegetation. In this study, we collected ticks from 39 districts of Istanbul (Turkey) between May and October, from 2013 to 2017, and identified them under stereo-microscope. In addition, we investigated the pathogens that the ticks carry (Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia sp. and Babesia sp.) by using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. We collected a total of 875 ticks from the ground and from various animals and kept them at 4 °C until experiments. We identified 248 Rhipicephalus bursa (28.3% of the total), 205 (23.4%) Rhipicephalus annulatus, 197 (22.5%) Haemaphysalis concinna, 149 (17.0%) Rhipicephalus sanguineus, 24 (2.7%) Hyalomma marginatum, 21 (2.4%) Ixodes ricinus, 13 (1.5%) Rhipicephalus kohlsi, 5 (0.6%) Hyalomma anatolicum, 5 (0.6%) Hyalomma aegyptium, 5 (0.6%) Dermacentor niveus and 3 (0.3%) Ixodes hexagonus. We included a total of 328 questing ticks in the study: 63 R. bursa, 63 R. sanguineus, 63 R. annulatus, 63 H. concinna, 24 H. marginatum, 21 I. ricinus, 13 R. kohlsi, 5 H. anatolicum, 5 H. aegyptium, 5 D. niveus and 3 I. hexagonus. Multiplex PCR indicated that 80 (24.4%) ticks were infected with Rickettsia sp., 5 (1.5%) with B. burgdorferi and 1 (0.3%) with Babesia sp. Our study indicated that Rickettsia is more common in ticks collected around Istanbul.

蜱虫可能携带多种病原体作为载体，它们的病原体载量可能因地理、气候和植被的差异而有所不同。在这项研究中，我们在 2013 年至 2017 年 5 月至 10 月期间从伊斯坦布尔（土耳其）的 39 个地区收集了蜱虫，并在立体显微镜下对其进行了鉴定。此外，我们使用多重聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 方法研究了蜱携带的病原体（伯氏疏螺旋体、嗜噬细胞无形体、立克次体和巴贝虫）。我们从地面和各种动物身上总共收集了 875 只蜱，并将它们保持在 4°C 直到实验。我们确定了 248 只Rhipicephalus bursa（占总数的 28.3%）、205 只（23.4%）扇头蜱annulatus，197（22.5％）嗜群血蜱，149（17.0％）血红扇头蜱，24（2.7％）璃眼marginatum，21（2.4％）篦子硬蜱，13（1.5％）扇头蜱kohlsi，5（0.6％）璃眼anatolicum , 5 (0.6%) Hyalomma aegyptium , 5 (0.6%) Dermacentor niveus和 3 (0.3%) Ixodes六边形。我们在研究中总共包括了 328 条探查蜱：63 R. bursa , 63 R. sanguineus , 63 R. annulatus , 63 H. concinna , 24 H. marginatum , 21 I. ricinus, 13 R. kohlsi , 5 H. anatolicum , 5 H. aegyptium , 5 D. niveus和 3 I.六边形。多重 PCR 表明 80 (24.4%) 只蜱被立克次体感染，5 只 (1.5%) 被伯氏疏螺旋体感染，1 只 (0.3%) 被巴贝斯虫感染。我们的研究表明立克次体在伊斯坦布尔附近收集的蜱中更为常见。