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For some time it has been known that the tick Ornithodoros erraticus might be one of the causes of the persistence of African swine fever in the Iberian Peninsula since its introduction in 1960. In the province of Salamanca serological methods have been used to study the relationship between the presence of the tick in different townships and the outbreaks of African swine fever in these townships between 1987 and 1992. The results showed that there was a statistically significant association between the presence of the parasite and the persistence of African swine fever. In townships without O erraticus traditional methods of control are in most cases enough to avoid new outbreaks of the disease, but in areas with O erraticus the traditional methods should be reinforced by other methods for preventing contact between pigs and the parasite.

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During a 7-year study, we identified and analyzed by PCR 4,049 ticks removed from 3,685 asymptomatic patients in Castilla y León (northwestern Spain). A total of 320 ticks (belonging to 10 species) were PCR-positive for rickettsiae. Comparison of amplicon sequences in databases enabled us to identify eight different spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae: Rickettsia slovaca, Rickettsia sp. IRS3/IRS4, R. massiliae/Bar29, R. aeschlimannii, Rickettsia sp. RpA4/DnS14, R. helvetica, Rickettsia sp. DmS1, and R. conorii. Although Mediterranean spotted fever (MSF) is an endemic disease in Castilla y León, R. conorii was found in only one Rhipicephalus sanguineus tick, whereas other pathogenic SFG rickettsiae were much more prevalent in the same area. Our data suggest that in Castilla y León, many MSF or MSF-like cases attributed to R. conorii could have been actually caused by other SFG rickettsiae present in ticks biting people in this region of Spain.