Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Ticks Dermacentor reticulatus found on dogs and cats in Wrocław Poland
By Król, Nina et al.·Published in Annals of parasitology·2016·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794) and Babesia canis (Piana et Galli-Valerio, 1895) as the parasites of companion animals (dogs and cats) in the Wrocław area, south-western Poland.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
Ticks were found on many dogs and cats in the Wrocław area of Poland, with the most common type being Ixodes ricinus. In a study, 931 pets were checked, and while some ticks were collected, none tested positive for Babesia canis, a parasite that can cause illness in dogs. However, 9% of dog blood samples did show signs of other Babesia species. The presence of Dermacentor reticulatus ticks, which can carry Babesia, indicates that pet owners should be aware of potential health risks as these ticks are becoming more common in the area.
People also search for: dog ticks Wrocław · Babesia canis symptoms in dogs · how to remove ticks from pets · tick prevention for dogs and cats
Abstract
UNLABELLED: Tests performed in 2013 and 2014 revealed the occurrence of three tick species parasitizing pet cats and dogs in the Wrocław Agglomeration. In total, 1,455 tick specimens were removed from 931 hosts (760 dogs and 171 cats) in 18 veterinary clinics. The dominant tick species was Ixodes ricinus (n=1272; 87.4%), followed by I. hexagonus (n=137; 9.4%) and Dermacentor reticulatus (n=46; 3.2%). Females were the most often collected development stage among I. ricinus and D. reticulatus, and nymphs among I. hexagonus. Additionally, D. reticulatus ticks (n=337) were then collected from vegetation in the Wrocław area to detect Babesia canis; however, none was found positive. Only 9.0% of dog blood samples sent to VETLAB were positive for Babesia spp. Negative results for B. canis from ticks may result from the short period of the occurrence of D. reticulatus in the Wrocław area and therefore the vectorpathogen cycle may not have been fully established at the time of the study. Nevertheless, D. reticulatus is expanding its range, and the size of its population in the Wrocław Agglomeration is increasing. The presence of the pathogenic Babesia spp. combined with the occurrence of its main vector¸ D. reticulatus, suggests that the epizootiological situation in the area can change and may pose a new veterinary problem in the future. KEY WORDS: Dermacentor reticulatus, Babesia canis, pets, Wrocław, Poland.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27614478/