Dominant occurrence of Rhipicephalus sanguineus on dogs from two western counties of Romania (Arad and Timi?)

摘要

The study was undertaken to provide data on the occurrence of ticks parasitizing dogs in two western counties of Romania, namely Arad and Timi?. A total of 869 specimens have been removed from 140 dogs in a four year longitudinal period (2010-2014) and have been identified at species level. Overall, 45.1% were identified as Rhipicephalus sanguineus , and 27.3%, 25.9%, 1,5% and 0.2% as Ixodes ricinus , Dermacentor reticulatus, Dermacentor marginatus and Haemaphysalis punctata, respectively. Regarding the dogs 55.0% were infested with Rh. sanguineus , 25.0% with I. ricinus , 14.3% with D. reticulatus, 4.3% with D. marginatus and 1.4% with H. punctata . Contrary to current knowledge, the present survey highlighted the dominance of Rh. sanguineus on dogs in the screened region, which may pose a risk in serving as reservoirs and disseminating important emerging tick-borne pathogens like Babesia canis , Ehrlichia canis , Rickettsia conorii or Hepatozoon canis .