Polish scientists have determined the prevalence of Babesia canis, Borrelia afzelii, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in ticks removed from dogs in central Poland.

Among 590 collected ticks, Wojciech Zygner, of the Warsaw Agricultural University, and colleagues identified 209 as Ixodes ricinus and 381 as Dermacentor reticulatus. They detected DNA of B. canis in 11% of D. reticulatus ticks.

Furthermore, the investigators found that 6.2% of I. ricinus ticks harbored Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato specific DNA and 2.9% harbored A. phagocytophilum DNA.

According to the report, published online on February 3rd in Veterinary Parasitology,
sequencing of the Borrelia amplicon detected in these samples confirmed infection with Borrelia afzelii genospecies. Zygner’s team submitted new sequences to the GenBank^® database (accession no. EU152128, EU152127, EU152126).

“This work is the first detection of B. afzelii and A. phagocytophilum in ticks from Warsaw, and the first survey for the prevalence of B. canis, B. afzelii, and A. phagocytophilum in ticks in central Poland,” the researchers conclude.

References

• Vet Parasitol, available online 3 February 2008
  Article in Press, Corrected Proof
  doi:10.1016/j.vetpar.2008.01.036