University Hohenheim, press release from 14/08/2019
Tropische Zecke: Erster Verdachtsfall auf Fleckfieber-Übertragung in Deutschland
(Tropical tick: First suspicious case of transmission of spotted fever)
The import of Hyalomma ticks to Germany in 2018 has been discussed in the Newsletter of June 2019 and again caught our attention end of July when an owner of a horse, living near the city of Siegen in North Rhine-Westphalia, was bitten by a Hyalomma tick.
Based on a previous appeal to send uncommon ticks to the Institute of Parasitology, University of Hohenheim, he sent the tick to this institute. Some days later, the horse owner became severely ill, showed symptoms of spotted fever caused by Rickettsia aeschlimannii, and was hospitalized.
The tick was sent to the Institute of Microbiology of the German armed forces where the probable cause of infection – Rickettsia aeschlimannii – was identified. The patient was immediately treated with antibiotics and the symptoms quickly regressed. Unfortunately, the direct detection of Rickettsia aeschlimannii in the patient was not possible, because the instant therapy had priority.
The team of scientists dealing with Hyalomma in Germany has disclosed that the number of Hyalomma ticks found up to August 2019 has been higher compared to last year and about 50% of these ticks are infected by Rickettsia aeschlimannnii.
It is suspected that Hyalomma larvae and nymphs are imported by migratory birds to Germany. This theory is underlined by a recent publication (Pascucci et al., Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2019, in press, doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.101272). The authors have assessed the role of birds introducing ticks and tick-borne pathogens from African countries to Italy. They found Rickettsia aeschlimannii in 158 ticks collected from migratory birds (443 ticks in total, mostly Hyalomma rufipes and Hyalomma marginatum).