title: Study on ticks and tick-borne zoonoses in public parks in Italy.
abstract: A survey on tick density and on tick-borne zoonoses was carried out in four public parks in the outskirts of Imola (northern Italy) from June to October 2006. All stages of Ixodes ricinus and only larvae of Riphicephalus sanguineus were recovered by dragging, performed on 100-m transects. Almost all ticks (99%) were harvested in one park. I. ricinus density (nymphs/100 m(2) ) ranged from 0 in park L to 6.3 in park F. Nymphs and adults of I. ricinus were subjected to PCR for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Bartonella spp., Borrelia burgdorferi s. l. and Rickettsia spp. The observed prevalences were 38.3% for Bartonella henselae, 5.2% for Bartonella clarridgeiae, 10.4% for B. burgdorferi s. l., 2.6% for Rickettsia helvetica and 13% for Rickettsia monacensis, respectively. No DNA of A. phagocytophilum was found. Acarological risks (AR) were calculated as probabilities of collecting at least one infected nymph per transect. The AR values calculated for the various zoonotic agents were 11.4% for R. helvetica, 27.7% for B. clarridgeiae, 49.7% for B. burgdorferi s. l., 57.2% for R. monacensis and 90.4% for B. henselae, respectively. In this study, B. clarridgeiae was for the first time identified in I. ricinus ticks.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Patologia Comparata e Igiene Veterinaria, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corrain
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drigo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fenati
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Menandro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mondin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pasotto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D001473:Bartonella / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D007814:Larva; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009758:Nymph; D015995:Prevalence; D048508:Rhipicephalus sanguineus / Q000382:microbiology*; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial