Beware of the wild boar ticks! New publication at Transboundary and Emerging Diseases

Research Pathway: Wildlife Health and Disease

Our latest paper, entitled “Ticks on wild boar in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Spain) are infected with spotted fever group rickettsiae”, was recently accepted at Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. We investigated the presence of several zoonotic tick-borne pathogens in wild boars and their ticks, and identified three emerging Rickettsia species in the ticks. The increasing wild boar population trend in our study area (and across the globe) could favour the tick life cycle and abundance, and the wild boar proximity to humans could promote the infection risk by Rickettsia spp. in urban and peri-urban areas of the metropolitan area of Barcelona (and beyond). In addition, one of the tick species identified was Hyalomma lusitanicum, which is able to transmit the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, suggesting a much broader distribution than previously described for the species.

Check the full article (Open Access) at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tbed.14268.