Ticks infesting humans in Italy and associated pathogens

Background: ticks may transmit a large variety of pathogens,which cause illnesses in animals and humans,commonly referred to as to tick-borne diseases (tbds). the incidence of human tbds in italy is underestimated because of poor surveillance and the scant amount of studies available. methods. samples (n = 561) were collected from humans in four main geographical areas of italy (i.e.,northwestern,northeastern,southern italy,and sicily),which represent a variety of environments. after being morphologically identified,ticks were molecularly tested with selected protocols for the presence of pathogens of the genera rickettsia,babesia,theileria,candidatus neoehrlichia mikurensis,borrelia and anaplasma. results: ticks belonged to 16 species of the genera argas,dermacentor,haemaphysalis,hyalomma,ixodes and rhipicephalus,with ixodes ricinus (59.5%) being the species most frequently retrieved,followed by rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (21.4%). nymphs were the life stage most frequently retrieved (41%),followed by adult females (34.6%). the overall positivity to any pathogen detected was 18%. detected microorganisms were rickettsia spp. (17.0%),anaplasma phagocytophilum (0.8%),borrelia afzelii (0.5%),borrelia valaisiana (0.3%),c. n. mikurensis (0.5%) and babesia venatorum (0.6%). conclusions: results indicate that people living in the italian peninsula are at risk of being bitten by different tick species,which may transmit a plethora of tbd causing pathogens and that co-infections may also occur. © 2014 otranto et al.; licensee biomed central ltd.