Sidorenko et al.
Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in questing Dermacentor reticulatus and Ixodes ricinus ticks in Lithuania
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2020; 12(1):101594; in press, doi.org/10.1016/j.ttdis.2020.101594
The Baltic country Lithuania has one of the highest TBE incidence rates (13.7 per 100,000 in 2018). In this country, Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus are the main tick species. I. persulcatus has only been found in north-eastern regions of Lithuania near the Latvian border.
A study has been carried out to investigate the prevalence of TBE virus in unfed I. ricinus and D. reticulatus ticks in different regions of Lithuania. Between March 2017 and October 2019, a total of 7170 I. ricinus ticks (2754 adults, 4036 nymphs, 380 larvae) and 1676 adult D. reticulatus ticks were collected by flagging/dragging. TBE virus infected ticks were found in seven of sixteen counties. The minimal infection rate was estimated to be 0.4% for both tick species. The TBE virus was detected in all development stages of I. ricinus ticks.
This was the first report about the detection of TBE virus in D. reticulatus ticks collected in Lithuania. Sequence analyses showed that the detected TBE virus isolates all belonged to the European subtype.