Food borne illnesses result from eating food or drinking beverages that are contaminated with chemical matter, heavy metals, parasites, fungi, viruses and Bacteria.

BackgroundRecent changes in the distribution of tick vectors and the incidence of tick-borne disease, driven variously by factors such as climate change, habitat modification, increasing host abundance and the increased movement of people and animals, highlight the importance of ongoing, active surveillance. This paper documents the results of a large-scale survey of tick abundance on dogs presented to veterinary practices in the UK, using a participatory approach that allows relatively cost- and time-effective extensive data collection.MethodsOver a period of 16 weeks (April–July 2015), 1094 veterinary practices were recruited to monitor tick attachment to dogs and provided with a tick collection and submission protocol. Recruitment was encouraged through a national publicity and communication initiative. Participating practices were asked to select five dogs at random each week and undertake a thorough, standardized examination of each dog for ticks. The clinical history and any ticks were then sent to the investigators for identification.ResultsA total of 12,000 and 96 dogs were examined and 6555 tick samples from infested dogs were received. Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus) was identified on 5265 dogs (89 %), Ixodes hexagonus Leach on 577 (9.8 %) and Ixodes canisuga Johnston on 46 (0.8 %). Ten dogs had Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius), one had Dermacentor variabilis (Say), three had Haemaphysalis punctata Canesteini & Fanzago and 13 had Rhipicephalus sanguineus Latreille. 640 ticks were too damaged for identification. All the R. sanguineus and the single D. variabilis were on dogs with a recent history of travel outside the UK. The overall prevalence of tick attachment was 30 % (range 28–32 %). The relatively high prevalence recorded is likely to have been inflated by the method of participant recruitment.ConclusionThe data presented provide a comprehensive spatial understanding of tick distribution and species abundance in the UK against which future changes can be compared. Relative prevalence maps show the highest rates in Scotland and south west England providing a valuable guide to tick-bite risk in the UK.

BackgroundIn Europe, hard ticks of the subgenus Pholeoixodes (Ixodidae: Ixodes) are usually associated with burrow-dwelling mammals and terrestrial birds. Reports of Pholeoixodes spp. from carnivores are frequently contradictory, and their identification is not based on key diagnostic characters. Therefore, the aims of the present study were to identify ticks collected from dogs, foxes and badgers in several European countries, and to reassess their systematic status with molecular analyses using two mitochondrial markers.ResultsBetween 2003 and 2017, 144 Pholeoixodes spp. ticks were collected in nine European countries. From accurate descriptions and comparison with type-materials, a simple illustrated identification key was compiled for adult females, by focusing on the shape of the anterior surface of basis capituli. Based on this key, 71 female ticks were identified as I. canisuga, 21 as I. kaiseri and 21 as I. hexagonus. DNA was extracted from these 113 female ticks, and from further 31 specimens. Fragments of two mitochondrial genes, cox1 (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) and 16S rRNA, were amplified and sequenced. Ixodes kaiseri had nine unique cox1 haplotypes, which showed 99.2–100% sequence identity, whereas I. canisuga and I. hexagonus had eleven and five cox1 haplotypes, respectively, with 99.5–100% sequence identity. The distribution of cox1 haplotypes reflected a geographical pattern. Pholeoixodes spp. ticks had fewer 16S rRNA haplotypes, with a lower degree of intraspecific divergence (99.5–100% sequence identity) and no geographical clustering. Phylogenetic analyses were in agreement with morphology: I. kaiseri and I. hexagonus (with the similar shape of the anterior surface of basis capituli) were genetically more closely related to each other than to I. canisuga. Phylogenetic analyses also showed that the subgenus Eschatocephalus (bat ticks) clustered within the subgenus Pholeoixodes.ConclusionsA simple, illustrated identification key is provided for female Pholeoixodes ticks of carnivores (including I. hexagonus and I. rugicollis) to prevent future misidentification of these species. It is also shown that I. kaiseri is more widespread in Europe than previously thought. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that the subgenus Pholeoixodes is not monophyletic: either the subgenus Eschatocephalus should be included in Pholeoixodes, or the latter subgenus should be divided, which is a task for future studies.

In a study of tick and tick-borne pathogen prevalence, between May and October 2016, 278 veterinary practices in Great Britain examined 1855 cats. Six-hundred and one cats were found to have attached ticks. The most frequently recorded tick species was Ixodes ricinus (57.1%), followed by Ixodes hexagonus (41.4%) and Ixodes trianguliceps (1.5%). Male cats, 4-6 years of age living in rural areas were most likely to be carrying a tick; hair length and tick treatment history had no significant association with attachment. For cats that were parasitized by ticks in large urban areas, I. hexagonus was the most frequent species recorded. Molecular analysis was possible for 541 individual tick samples, others were too damaged for analysis; Babesia spp., and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato were identified in 1.1% (n=6) and 1.8% (n=10) of these, respectively. Babesia spp. included Babesia vulpes sp. nov./Babesia microti-like (n=4) in I. hexagonus and Babesia venatorum (n=2) in I. ricinus. Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. species included Borrelia garinii (n=6) and Borrelia afzelii (n=4). The majority of B. burgorferi s.l. cases were found in I. ricinus, with B. afzelii in one I. hexagonus nymph. No Borrelia or Babesia spp. were present in I. trianguliceps. To determine a true prevalence for ticks on cats, practices that only submitted questionnaires from cats with ticks and practices that submitted fewer than 5 returns per week were removed; amongst those considered to have adhered strictly to the collection protocol, feline tick prevalence amongst cats that had access to the outdoors was 6.6%. These results show that ticks can be found on cats throughout Great Britain, which harbour a range of species of Babesia and B. burgdorferi s.l. and that cats, particularly in green spaces within urban areas, may form an important host for I. hexagonus, a known vector of pathogens.

The recent implication of Dermacentor reticulatus (Ixodida: Ixodidae) in the transmission of canine babesiosis in the U.K. has highlighted the lack of accurate published data on its distribution in this country. This paper aims to collate and appraise historical data for D. reticulatus, to supplement such data with more recent surveillance data and to report on field sampling conducted during 2009-2016. These updated data facilitate better understanding of the current distribution of this tick in the U.K., which will better inform disease risk assessments. There appear to be four known regions of the U.K. in which D. reticulatus currently occurs, including western Wales, North and South Devon, and Essex. The majority of foci are located in coastal sand dunes and maritime grasslands, including grazing marsh. However, more recently the tick has been detected in urban greenspace in Essex. The emergence of this tick as a vector of babesiosis in the U.K. and its recent apparent spread in Essex into urban greenspace highlight the need for continued surveillance and for further research into its status as a vector of human and veterinary pathogens.