A One Health approach to study the circulation of tick-borne pathogens: A preliminary study
Pavle Banović,
Adrian Alberto Díaz-Sánchez,
Clemence Galon,
Angélique Foucault-Simonin,
Verica Simin,
Dragana Mijatović,
Luka Papić,
Alejandra Wu-Chuang,
Dasiel Obregón,
Sara Moutailler,
Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz
Affiliations
Pavle Banović
Ambulance for Lyme Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Diseases, Pasteur Institute Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia; Department of Microbiology with Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Adrian Alberto Díaz-Sánchez
Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, 112 Science Place, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada
Clemence Galon
ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, Maisons-Alfort F-94700, France
Angélique Foucault-Simonin
ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, Maisons-Alfort F-94700, France
Verica Simin
Department for Microbiological & Other Diagnostics, Pasteur Institute Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Dragana Mijatović
Ambulance for Lyme Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Diseases, Pasteur Institute Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Luka Papić
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Alejandra Wu-Chuang
ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, Maisons-Alfort F-94700, France
Dasiel Obregón
School of Environmental Sciences University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada; Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo 13400-970, Brazil
Sara Moutailler
ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, Maisons-Alfort F-94700, France; Corresponding authors.
Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz
ANSES, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, Maisons-Alfort F-94700, France; Corresponding authors.
Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) have complex life cycles involving tick vectors and vertebrate hosts. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the zoonotic circulation of TBPs. In this study, we used a One Health approach to study the possible circulation of TBPs in ticks, animals and humans within a rural household in the foothills of the Fruška Gora mountain, northern Serbia. The presence of TBP DNA was assessed using microfluidic PCR (25 bacterial species, 7 parasite species, 5 bacterial genera, 3 parasite genera) in animal, human and tick samples and the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) RNA was screened for using RT-qPCR on tick samples. In addition, Lyme borreliosis serology was assessed in patients sera. Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Ixodes ricinus ticks were identified on dogs and Haemaphysalis punctata was identified on house walls. Rickettsia helvetica was the most common pathogen detected in pooled R. sanguineus and I. ricinus tick samples, followed by Hepatozoon canis. None of the H. punctata tick samples tested positive for the presence of TBPs. Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia monacensis were the most frequent pathogens detected in dogs, followed by Rickettsia felis, whereas Anaplasma bovis was the only pathogen found in one of the goats tested. None of the human blood samples collected from family members tested positive for the presence of TBPs. Although microfluidic PCR did not detect Borrelia sp. in any of the tested tick or blood samples, a family member with a history of Lyme disease was seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.). We conclude that, despite the presence of TBPs in tick and vertebrate reservoirs, there is no evidence of infection with TBPs across various components of the epidemiological chain in a rural Fruška Gora household.
