One Health Approach on: Serosurvey of Owners and Dogs, Molecular Detection in Ticks, and Associated Risk Factors in Tick-Infested Households of Southern Brazil.

Abstract

has been the main hemopathogen affecting domestic dogs in Brazil. Even though tick-infested dogs may lead to household infestation and predispose human exposure and public health concern, no comprehensive study has surveyed humans, dogs, and environmental ticks altogether.Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess tick-infested households, identify tick species, perform serological (immunofluorescence assay) and molecular (PCR and q-PCR) detection ofin ticks, in the eighth biggest metropolitan area of Brazil.Between 2007 and 2020, 233/5973 (3.9%) out of all complaints were from tick-infested households of 200 different addresses. Overall, 370/552 (67.0%) ticks were collected and identified as adult and 182/552 (33.0%) as immature forms ofs.l. complex; a single tick from one owner, a female tick of; and 395 ticks from dogs, 319/395 (80.8%) adult and 72/395 (18.2%) immature forms ofspp., and 4/395 (1.01%) female. Overall, 2/135 (1.5%) owners and 13/136 (9.6%) dogs were seropositive for. The DNA of Anaplasmataceae family was molecularly detected in 16/50 (32.0%)s.l. As expected, the number of monthly tick infestation complaints were directly associated, and mean (&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.01), maximum (&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.011), and minimum (&#x2009;=&#x2009;0.008) temperature were statistically significant and had a low positive correlation (0.24, 0.23, and 0.24, respectively). In addition, complaints were highly associated to all socioeconomic variables (&#x2009;<&#x2009;0.001), with the exception of the presence of vacant lots.Despite low samplings and human negative results, areas with low-income with adequate temperature and urban agglomerations have been shown to be associated risks for tick infestations, predisposing tick-borne diseases. In conclusion, monitoring should always be conducted in such areas, including One Health approach with serosurvey of owners and dogs, along with identification and molecular screening of ticks.