Hyalomma aegyptium the dominant hard tick in tortoises Tesdudo hermanni boettgeri found in different regions of Albania
Date
2 Şubat 20Metadata
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Bejo Bizhga a , Bektas¸ Sonmez ¨ b , Laurent Bardhaj a , Kurtesh Sherifi c , Ozan Gündemir d , Sokol Duro a,* a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, 1000, Albania b Sus¸ehri Timur Karabal Vocational School, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, 58600, Turkey c Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary, University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”, Street “Bill Clinton”, Prishtine 10000, Kosovo d Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, TurkeyAbstract
The purpose of this study was to estimate the level of hard tick infestation in the tortoise subspecies Testudo
hermanni boettgeri living within the free-range hills and mountains of four regions of central and south Albania. In
addition, this study showed the morphological differences of infested and non-infested tortoises in several
geographic locations where tortoises are known to be infested with Hyalomma aegyptium, a natural carrier of
different zoonotic pathogens. Thirty-six of 145 (24.8%) examined Hermann’s tortoises were found to be infested
with hard ticks. After the tortoises were carefully captured and controlled, a total of 67 H. aegyptium were
collected: 47 in Berati, 11 in Ballshi and 9 in Saranda. None of the 40 tortoises in the Tirana region were found to
be infested with ticks. All ticks were identified as H. aegyptium adults. The highest prevalence of tick infestation
was in the Berati region at 49.1%, followed by the Ballshi and Saranda region by 24% and 12%, respectively. The
mean infestation intensity was 1.86 H. aegyptium per Hermann’s tortoise, and it was found that H. aegyptium are
less common in large Hermann’s tortoises. The number of H. aegyptium male ticks was negatively correlated with
the body dimensions of Hermann’s tortoises. Hyalomma aegyptium is the most prevalent tick in Hermann’s tortoises
in three regions of south Albania, and with a typical three-host life cycle in different wild and domestic
animals, they may be a vector of zoonotic pathogens. Furthermore, other studies should be conducted to detect
the presence of zoonotic pathogens in ticks from these regions and to estimate the risk of transmission in animals
and humans.