RESEARCH Tickborne Pathogen Detection,

for infection with Borrelia, Anaplasma/Ehrlichia, Bartonella, and Babesia spp. by using nested polymerase chain reaction assays with subsequent sequencing. I. persulcatus ticks were infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (37.6 % ± 4.3 % [standard deviation]), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (2.4 % ± 1.4%), Ehrlichia muris (8.8 % ± 2.5%), and Bartonella spp. (37.6 % ± 4.3%). D. reticulatus ticks contained DNA of B. burgdorferi sensu lato (3.6 % ± 2.0%), Bartonella spp. (21.4 % ± 4.5%), and Babesia canis canis (3.6 % ± 2.0%). Borrelia garinii, Borrelia afzelii, and their mixed infections were observed among I. persulcatus, whereas B. garinii NT29 DNA was seen in samples from D. reticulatus. Among the I. persulcatus ticks studied, no Babesia spp. were observed, whereas B. canis canis was the single subspecies found in D. reticulatus. Ticks are second only to mosquitoes as vectors of bacterial, viral, and protozoan agents (1). Among tickborne bacteria, extracellular spirochetes of the genus Borrelia are widely spread and most studied. Some of these, those that belong to the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, are causative agents of Lyme borreliosis (1,2). Other known pathogenic bacteria transmitted by ticks are intracellular alpha proteobacteria, which includes the families Anaplasmataceae, Bartonellaceae, and Rickettsiaceae (3). Members of the genera Anaplasma and Ehrlichia, from the family Anaplasmataceae, infect mainly monocytes and granulocytes and cause human and animal anaplasmoses and ehrlichioses (4). Bacteria of th