Babesia spp. and other Apicomplexa in ticks and rodents in southwestern Slovakia

HAM?ÍKOVÁ Z; KAZIMÍROVÁ M; MAHRÍKOVÁ L; BERTHOVÁ L; SLOVÁK M ; KOCIANOVÁ E ; SCHNITTGER L

Congreso; XII. Czeck and Slovak Parasitology Day; 2016

Babesiosis is an emerging and potentially zoonotic disease causedby tick-bornepiroplasmids ofthe Babesia genus. Recently, thegeographic area, where piroplasmids have been detected in ticks and rodents,has expanded. Additional novel genotypes and species of Babesia havebeen detected with so far unknown associations to vector and vertebrate hosts. Further regionalstudies would be essential to assess the emergence of Babesia pathogensthat pose a potential risk to human and animal health. Rodents as well as questing androdent-attached ticks were screened for the existence of Babesia-specific DNA applying molecular detectionmethods. The presence of Babesia spp.in ticks and rodents from southwestern Slovakia was compared with the sympatricoccurrence of Ixodes ricinus and Haemaphysalis concinna ticks. Babesia spp. were detected in 1.5 % and 6.6 % of questing I. ricinus and H. concinna,respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the hypervariable 18S rRNA generegions of Babesia spp. from I.ricinus clustered with Babesiamicroti, Babesia venatorum, Babesia canis, Babesia capreoli/Babesiadivergens, and Babesia odocoilei. Other 18S rRNA generegions amplified from Babesia spp. infecting H. concinna segregated into two distinct monophyletic clades,designated Babesia sp. 1 (Eurasia) andBabesia sp. 2 (Eurasia),each of which represents a yet undescribed novel species. The prevalence of infection in rodents (with Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolusprevailing) with B. microti was 2.8 %. The majority of infected rodents (81.3 %) were positive for spleen and bloodand the remaining (18.7 %) for lungs and/or skin. Rodent-attachedI. ricinus (accounting for 96.3 %) andH. concinna (3.7 %) were found to be infected with B. microti, B. venatorum, B. capreoli/B.divergens, Babesia sp. 1 (Eurasia), and Babesia sp. 2 (Eurasia). All B.microti and B. venatorum isolates were found to be identical to knownzoonotic strains from Europe. Some isolates showed identity with other Apicomplexa: Theileria sp. were identified in H. concinna, Hepatozooncanis in I. ricinus, while Hepatozoon spp. and Sarcocystis spp. were found in rodents. Ourresults demonstrate a high diversity of Babesiaspp. and other tick-born Apicomplexa circulating in I. ricinus and H. concinnaticks in southwestern Slovakia.Important findings of this study are the detection of: i) B. canis, B. odocoilei,and H. canis in questing I. ricinus, ii) two novel species of Babesia, iii) of Theileria sp.in H. concinna-ticks, and iv) Hepatozoon spp. and Sarcocystisspp. in rodents. We demonstrate that A. flavicollis and Microtus arvalis may play a critical role in B. microti transmission supporting the hypothesis that the mostcompetent reservoirs are voles of the Microtusgenus, particularly M. arvalis. Associationswith vertebrate hosts and the pathogenicity of Babesia spp. infecting H.concinna, and of Hepatozoon spp.and Sarcocystis spp.found in rodents needto be further explored.