RESEARCH Open Access Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis in ticks and rodents from urban and natural habitats of South-Western Slovakia

• Main Authors: Zuzana Hamšíková Svitálková, Danka Haruštiaková, Lenka Mahríková, Michala Mojšová, Lenka Berthová, Mirko Slovák, Elena Kocianová, Muriel Vayssier-taussat, Mária Kazimírová
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Microtus arvalis
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.816.5418

Background: Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis (CNM) is an emerging tick-borne pathogen causing severe disease in immunocompromised patients. In Europe, Ixodes ricinus is the primary vector and rodents act as reservoir hosts. New data on the prevalence of CNM in ticks and rodents contribute to the knowledge on the distribution of endemic areas and circulation of the bacterium in natural foci. Methods: Questing ticks were collected and rodents were trapped in urban/suburban and natural habitats in South-Western Slovakia from 2011 to 2014. DNA from questing and rodent-attached ticks and rodent tissues were screened for CNM by real-time PCR. Rodent spleen samples positive for CNM were characterised at the groEL gene locus. Spatial and temporal differences in CNM prevalence in ticks and rodents and co-infections of ticks with CNM and Anaplasma phagocytophilum were analysed. Results: The presence of CNM was confirmed in questing and rodent-attached I. ricinus ticks and in rodents. Total prevalence in both ticks and rodents was significantly higher in the natural habitat (2.3 % and 10.1 %, respectively) than in the urban/suburban habitat (1.0 % and 3.3 %, respectively). No seasonal pattern in CNM prevalence in ticks was observed, but prevalence in rodents was higher in autumn than in spring. CNM was detected in Apodemus flavicollis, Myodes glareolus, Microtus arvalis and Micromys minutus, with the highest prevalence in M. arvalis (30 %).