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.
Subject(s)
Arachnid Vectors/microbiology , Bartonella/isolation & purification , Borrelia burgdorferi/isolation & purification , Ixodes/microbiology , Rhipicephalus sanguineus/microbiology , Rickettsia/isolation & purification , Animals , Bartonella/genetics , Bartonella Infections/epidemiology , Bartonella Infections/microbiology , Base Sequence , Borrelia burgdorferi/genetics , DNA, Bacterial/isolation & purification , Female , Humans , Italy/epidemiology , Larva , Lyme Disease/epidemiology , Lyme Disease/microbiology , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , Nymph , Prevalence , Rickettsia/genetics , Rickettsia Infections/epidemiology , Rickettsia Infections/microbiology , Risk Factors , Sequence Analysis, DNA , ZoonosesABSTRACT
Linear mixed regression and logspline density estimation were performed to estimate the survival curve and half life of passively acquired antibodies against porcine parvovirus (PPV) in 44 wild boar piglets captured in the Northern Apennines, Italy. One piglet had no detectable maternal antibodies at 2.5 months post partum and no antibodies were detected in any of the remaining piglets by 4 months of age. Fitted survival curves indicated that maternal antibodies were undetectable from 2.5 to 6 months of age, with a median value at 3 months and a low probability of persistent maternal antibodies after 4 months of age. The estimated half life was 23 days (95% confidence interval 22-26 days). The results agree with previous data for decay of maternally acquired antibodies against PPV in the domestic pig and indicate the value of capture-recapture analysis for the estimation of infection parameters in free-living animals.
