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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2006, p. 6503-6507, Vol. 72, No. 10
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00823-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Babesia spp. Identified by PCR in Ticks Collected from Domestic and Wild Ruminants in Southern Switzerland

Heidi Hilpertshauser,¹ Peter Deplazes,¹ Manuela Schnyder,¹ Lise Gern,² and Alexander Mathis^1*

Institute of Parasitology, Medical and Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 266a, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland,¹ Institut de Zoologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Emile-Argand 11, CH-2007 Neuchâtel, Switzerland²

Received 7 April 2006/ Accepted 23 July 2006

Concurrent infections with vector-borne pathogens affected a cattle herd in Switzerland, and one of the pathogens was identified as Babesia bigemina, which had never been observed in this country before. Therefore, a survey of the occurrence of ruminant Babesia spp. and their tick vectors in Switzerland was conducted. A total of 2,017 ticks were collected from sheep, goats, cattle, and wild ruminants (deer, roe deer, and chamois) in southern parts of Switzerland and identified morphologically. The vast majority of the ticks (99.2%) were Ixodes ricinus, but 14 ticks from sheep and goats were identified as Dermacentor marginatus and two ticks from wild ruminants were identified as Hemaphysalis punctata. PCR analyses of 700 ticks revealed the presence of Babesia divergens (n = 6), Babesia sp. genotype EU1 (n = 14), and B. major (n = 2), whose suggested occurrence was confirmed in this study by molecular analysis, and the presence of novel Babesia sp. genotype CH1 (n = 4), which is closely related to B. odocoilei and to Babesia sp. genotype RD61 reported from North America. The identification of B. divergens and B. major in ticks collected from wild ruminants cast doubt on the postulated strict host specificity of these bovine Babesia species. Furthermore, the zoonotic Babesia sp. genotype EU1 was detected in ticks collected from domestic animals but was obtained predominantly from ticks collected from wild ruminants. More than one tick containing DNA of different Babesia spp. were collected from two red deer. Hence, the role of these game animals as reservoir hosts of Babesia spp. seems to be important but requires further investigation.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Parasitology, Medical and Vetsuisse Faculty of the University of Zürich, Winterthurerstr. 266a, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. Phone: 41 44 635 85 36. Fax: 41 44 635 89 07. E-mail: alexander.mathis{at}access.unizh.ch.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2006, p. 6503-6507, Vol. 72, No. 10
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00823-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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