Prevalence of and in collected from dogs in eastern Poland.

Introduction: ticks are an important vector and reservoir of pathogenic microorganisms causing dangerous infectious diseases in humans and animals. The presence of ticks in urban greenery is a particularly important public health concern due to the potential for humans and companion animals to be exposed to tick-borne diseases there. The study assessed the prevalence of and infection in ticks feeding on dogs.

Material And Methods: The study consisted in analyses of ticks collected in 2018-2020 from owned and stray dogs in the north-eastern part of Lubelskie province (eastern Poland). An AmpliSens PCR kit was used for qualitative detection and differentiation of tick-borne infections.

Results: Infections of and were detected in 10.9% and 12.9% of the examined ticks, respectively. One tick (0.7%) was co-infected by both pathogens. Infection with was significantly more highly prevalent in ticks collected from the owned dogs than from the strays (18.7% and 2.8%, respectively), whereas the prevalence of was similar in both groups (12.0% and 13.9%, respectively).

Conclusion: The co-infection observed in the study suggests the possibility of simultaneous infection by both pathogens from a single tick bite. The presence of pathogens in ticks collected from dogs is a factor in assessing infection risk not only to companion animals but also to their owners, who are in close contact with their dogs and visit the same green areas recreationally.