Fondazione Edmund Mach, Research and Innovation Centre, San Michele all'Adige , Trento , Italy.
Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Munich , Germany ; Vetsuisse-Faculty, Swiss National Centre for Vector Entomology, Institute for Parasitology, University of Zurich , Zürich , Switzerland.
Front Public Health. 2014 Dec 1;2:251. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00251. eCollection 2014.
Tick-borne diseases represent major public and animal health issues worldwide. Ixodes ricinus, primarily associated with deciduous and mixed forests, is the principal vector of causative agents of viral, bacterial, and protozoan zoonotic diseases in Europe. Recently, abundant tick populations have been observed in European urban green areas, which are of public health relevance due to the exposure of humans and domesticated animals to potentially infected ticks. In urban habitats, small and medium-sized mammals, birds, companion animals (dogs and cats), and larger mammals (roe deer and wild boar) play a role in maintenance of tick populations and as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens. Presence of ticks infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus and high prevalence of ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., causing Lyme borreliosis, have been reported from urbanized areas in Europe. Emerging pathogens, including bacteria of the order Rickettsiales (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, "Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis," Rickettsia helvetica, and R. monacensis), Borrelia miyamotoi, and protozoans (Babesia divergens, B. venatorum, and B. microti) have also been detected in urban tick populations. Understanding the ecology of ticks and their associations with hosts in a European urbanized environment is crucial to quantify parameters necessary for risk pre-assessment and identification of public health strategies for control and prevention of tick-borne diseases.
蜱传疾病是全球主要的公共卫生和动物健康问题。在欧洲，主要与落叶林和混交林相关的蓖子硬蜱是病毒、细菌和原生动物人畜共患病病原体的主要传播媒介。最近，在欧洲城市绿地中观察到了大量的蜱虫，由于人类和驯养动物接触到可能感染的蜱虫，这些地区与公共卫生有关。在城市栖息地中，小型和中型哺乳动物、鸟类、伴侣动物（狗和猫）以及较大的哺乳动物（狍和野猪）在维持蜱虫种群和作为蜱传病原体的储存库方面发挥作用。在欧洲的城市化地区，已经报告了感染蜱传脑炎病毒的蜱虫和感染伯氏疏螺旋体的蜱虫的高流行率，伯氏疏螺旋体引起莱姆病。新出现的病原体，包括立克次体目（嗜吞噬细胞无形体、“候选新立克次体”、瑞士立克次体和单胞菌立克次体）、伯氏疏螺旋体 miyamotoi 和原生动物（分歧巴贝斯虫、贝氏巴贝斯虫和微小巴贝斯虫），也在城市蜱种群中被检测到。了解蜱虫在欧洲城市化环境中的生态学及其与宿主的关系，对于量化风险预评估所需的参数以及确定控制和预防蜱传疾病的公共卫生策略至关重要。
