Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Apulia, Italy.
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Sicily, Italy.
Transbound Emerg Dis. 2022 Jul;69(4):e386-e393. doi: 10.1111/tbed.14314. Epub 2021 Sep 16.
Citizen science may be described as a research involving communities and individuals, other than scientists. Following this approach, along with the evidence of a high prevalence of Rickettsia spp. in Dermacentor marginatus from wild boars in hunting areas of southern Italy, this study aimed to assess the occurrence of tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) in ticks collected from hunters and their hunting dogs. From October 2020 to May 2021, ticks were collected from wild boar hunters (n = 347) and their dogs (n = 422) in regions of southern Italy (i.e., Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and Sicily). All ticks were morphologically identified, classified according to gender, feeding status, host, geographic origin, and molecularly screened for zoonotic bacteria. Adult ticks (n = 411) were collected from hunters (i.e., n = 29; 8.4%; mean of 1.6 ticks for person) and dogs (i.e., n = 200; 47.4%; mean of 1.8 ticks for animal) and identified at species level as D. marginatus (n = 240, 58.4%), Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato (n = 135, 32.8%), Rhipicephalus turanicus (n = 27, 6.6%) and Ixodes ricinus (n = 9, 2.2%). Overall, 45 ticks (i.e., 10.9%, 95% CI: 8.3-14.3) tested positive for at least one tick-borne agent, being Rickettsia slovaca the most frequent species (n = 37, 9.0%), followed by Rickettsia raoultii, Rickettsia aeschlimannii, Rickettsia monacensis, Coxiella burnetii, Borrelia lusitaniae and Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii (n = 2, 0.5% each). Data herein presented demonstrate a relevant risk of exposure to TBPs for hunters and hunting dogs during the hunting activities. Therefore, the role of hunters to monitor the circulation of ticks in rural areas may be considered an effective example of the citizen science approach, supporting the cooperation toward private and public health stakeholders.
公民科学可以被描述为一种涉及社区和个人（而非科学家）的研究方法。基于这种方法，以及在意大利南部狩猎区野猪身上发现大量壁虱属物种的证据，本研究旨在评估从猎人及其猎犬身上采集的蜱虫中 tick-borne 病原体（TBPs）的发生情况。2020 年 10 月至 2021 年 5 月，从意大利南部地区（即普利亚、巴西利卡塔、卡拉布里亚、坎帕尼亚和西西里岛）的野猪猎人（n=347）及其猎犬（n=422）身上采集了蜱虫。所有蜱虫均通过形态学进行鉴定，根据性别、进食状态、宿主、地理来源进行分类，并进行分子筛查以确定是否存在人畜共患细菌。从猎人（n=29，占 8.4%；人均 1.6 只）和猎犬（n=200，占 47.4%；人均 1.8 只）身上采集了 411 只成年蜱虫，并在物种水平上鉴定为边缘革蜱（n=240，占 58.4%）、狭叶血蜱（n=135，占 32.8%）、图兰蜱（n=27，占 6.6%）和蓖子硬蜱（n=9，占 2.2%）。总体而言，45 只蜱虫（即 10.9%，95%CI：8.3-14.3）至少对一种 tick-borne 病原体呈阳性，其中最常见的物种是拉氏疏螺旋体（n=37，占 9.0%），其次是瑞氏疏螺旋体、拉氏疏螺旋体、莫氏疏螺旋体、考克斯氏体、伯氏疏螺旋体和中地衣原体（n=2，各占 0.5%）。本文所提供的数据表明，猎人及其猎犬在狩猎活动中接触 tick-borne 病原体的风险较大。因此，猎人在农村地区监测蜱虫传播的作用可以被视为公民科学方法的有效范例，支持了私人和公共卫生利益相关者之间的合作。
