title: Prevalence and diversity of human pathogenic rickettsiae in urban versus rural habitats, Hungary.
abstract: Tick-borne rickettsioses belong to the important emerging infectious diseases worldwide. We investigated the potential human exposure to rickettsiae by determining their presence in questing ticks collected in an urban park of Budapest and a popular hunting and recreational forest area in southern Hungary. Differences were found in the infectious risk between the two habitats. Rickettsia monacensis and Rickettsia helvetica were identified with sequencing in questing Ixodes ricinus, the only ticks species collected in the city park. Female I. ricinus had a particularly high prevalence of R. helvetica (45%). Tick community was more diverse in the rural habitat with Dermacentor reticulatus ticks having especially high percentage (58%) of Rickettsia raoultii infection. We conclude that despite the distinct eco-epidemiological traits, the risk (hazard and exposure) of acquiring human pathogenic rickettsial infections in both the urban and the rural study sites exists.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, 2 István Street, Budapest, 1078, Hungary.
authors.forename: Sándor
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Szekeres
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health and Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Docters van Leeuwen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, 2 István Street, Budapest, 1078, Hungary.
authors.forename: Krisztina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rigó
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, 2 István Street, Budapest, 1078, Hungary.
authors.forename: Mónika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jablonszky
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, 2 István Street, Budapest, 1078, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Majoros
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health and Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sprong
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, Szent István University, 2 István Street, Budapest, 1078, Hungary. FoldvariGabor@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5297-9036
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Földvári
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D000068316:Parks, Recreational; D015995:Prevalence; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Hungary; Recreational area; Rickettsia helvetica; Rickettsia monacensis; Rickettsia raoultii; Urban