Tick-borne diseases represent major public and animal health issues worldwide. Ixodes ricinus, primarily associated with deciduous and mixed forests, is the principal vector of causative agents of viral, bacterial, and protozoan zoonotic diseases in Europe. Recently, abundant tick populations have been observed in European urban green areas, which are of public health relevance due to the exposure of humans and domesticated animals to potentially infected ticks. In urban habitats, small and medium-sized mammals, birds, companion animals (dogs and cats), and larger mammals (roe deer and wild boar) play a role in maintenance of tick populations and as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens. Presence of ticks infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus and high prevalence of ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., causing Lyme borreliosis, have been reported from urbanized areas in Europe. Emerging pathogens, including bacteria of the order Rickettsiales (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, "Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis," Rickettsia helvetica, and R. monacensis), Borrelia miyamotoi, and protozoans (Babesia divergens, B. venatorum, and B. microti) have also been detected in urban tick populations. Understanding the ecology of ticks and their associations with hosts in a European urbanized environment is crucial to quantify parameters necessary for risk pre-assessment and identification of public health strategies for control and prevention of tick-borne diseases.

Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich Germany ; Institute of Animal Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health University of Leipzig Leipzig Germany

Comparative Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich Germany ; Vetsuisse Faculty Swiss National Centre for Vector Entomology Institute for Parasitology University of Zurich Zürich Switzerland

Department of Parasitology and Zoology Faculty of Veterinary Science Szent István University Budapest Hungary

Fondazione Edmund Mach Research and Innovation Centre San Michele all'Adige Trento Italy

INRA UMR1300 BioEpAR Nantes France ; LUNAM Université Oniris Ecole nationale vétérinaire agroalimentaire et de l'alimentation Nantes Atlantique UMR BioEpAR Nantes France

Institute of Vertebrate Biology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic v v i Brno Czech Republic

Institute of Virology Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia

Institute of Zoology Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava Slovakia

USC BIPAR INRA ANSES French Agency for Food Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Maisons Alfort France

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