Prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in Belgium and the immune responses to tick borne encephalitis virus and louping ill virus in experimentally infected sheep

Korte beschrijving

In Europe, Ixodes ricinus ticks transmits several zoonotic pathogens of medical, veterinary and economic importance, including Borrelia spp., Anaplasma spp., Rickettsia spp., Babesia spp., and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). In humans, clinical presentation depends on the pathogen and stage of infection and can range from flu-like illness to severe disease with signs such as arthritis, carditis, ocular and neurological manifestations. In livestock, infections are often subclinical or asymptomatic, but clinical disease can also occur. In Belgium, antibodies against most of these pathogens have previously been reported but most available data relate to targeted geographic regions, clinical cases or a limited number of tested samples. Therefore, the first part of this thesis aimed to obtain the first country-wide seroprevalence data for Borrelia spp., Anaplasma spp., A. phagocytophilum, Rickettsia spp. and Babesia spp. in cattle sera and to generate the first Belgian data on TBEV seroprevalence in sheep. In addition, the first part of this thesis intended to provide up-to-date data on the prevalence of these pathogens in questing ticks and on TBEV seroprevalence in Flemish wild boar.