A study of the presence of B. burgdorferi, Anaplasma (previously Ehrlichia) phagocytophilum, Rickettsia, and Babesia in Ixodes ricinus collected within the territory of Belluno, Italy.

In the years 2000 and 2001, we sampled ticks in order to establish the distribution of Ixodes ricinus in the province of Belluno; 5987 tick samples from 244 sites throughout the province were gathered, by dragging for a 5-min period. In 40 sites, seasonal variations and cycle stages of the parasites were studied at monthly intervals from March to September. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to identify the tick-infected sites. Of 1931 individual ticks, 8.23% were positive for Borrelia burgdorferi, 4.4% were positive for Ehrlichia, 1.6% were positive for Rickettsia, and 1.6% were positive for Babesia. The co-presence of Borrelia and Ehrlichia (1.2%) and Babesia (0.5%), Borrelia, Ehrlichia and Rickettsia (0.1%) was also found.