RESUMEN
Babesiosis is a tick-transmitted disease of veterinary and medical importance. The first Austrian case of human babesiosis was recently recorded. In the current study, ticks at all life cycle stages (instars), including 853 Ixodes ricinus and 11 Haemaphysalis concinna ticks, from sampling sites throughout Austria were examined for the presence of Babesia spp. by using 18S rRNA gene PCR and sequencing, and the overall mean infection rate was 51.04%. The infection rates for sampling sites were highly variable, ranging from 0% to almost 100%. Different instars and different sexes were infected almost equally. Babesia isolates occurring in Austrian ticks were identified as Babesia divergens, Babesia divergens-like, and Babesia sp. strain DD by sequencing a fragment of the heat shock protein 70 gene and internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of Babesia spp. in Austrian ticks.
Asunto(s)
Babesia/aislamiento & purificación , Ixodes/parasitología , Enfermedades por Picaduras de Garrapatas/transmisión , Animales , Austria/epidemiología , Babesia/genética , Geografía , Humanos , Ixodes/crecimiento & desarrollo , Estadios del Ciclo de Vida , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Reacción en Cadena de la Polimerasa , Enfermedades por Picaduras de Garrapatas/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
A total of 853 Ixodes ricinus ticks collected from the nine federal states of Austria were examined by molecular methods for possible infections with Rickettsia spp. It was shown that roughly one-third of the ticks were infected with Rickettsia spp. Moreover, Rickettsia helvetica was detected in Austria for the first time.
