pathogens Systematic Review Global Distribution of Babesia Species in Questing Ticks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Based on Published Literature ThankGod E. Onyiche 1,2 , Cristian Răileanu 2 , Susanne Fischer 2 and Cornelia Silaghi 2,3,* 1 Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, University of Maiduguri, P. M. B. 1069, Maiduguri 600230, Nigeria;
[email protected] 2 Institute of Infectology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Südufer 10, 17493 Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany; cristian.raileanu@fli.de (C.R.); susanne.fischer@fli.de (S.F.) 3 Department of Biology, University of Greifswald, Domstrasse 11, 17489 Greifswald, Germany * Correspondence: cornelia.silaghi@fli.de; Tel.: +49-38351-7-1172 Abstract: Babesiosis caused by the Babesia species is a parasitic tick-borne disease. It threatens many mammalian species and is transmitted through infected ixodid ticks. To date, the global occurrence and distribution are poorly understood in questing ticks. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to estimate the distribution of the pathogen. A deep search for four electronic databases of the published literature investigating the prevalence of Babesia spp. in questing ticks was undertaken and obtained data analyzed. Our results indicate that in 104 eligible studies dating from 1985 to 2020, altogether 137,364 ticks were screened with 3069 positives with an estimated global pooled prevalence estimates (PPE) of 2.10%. In total, 19 different Babesia species of both human and veterinary importance were Citation: Onyiche, T.E.; R˘aileanu,C.; detected in 23 tick species, with Babesia microti and Ixodes ricinus being the most widely reported Fischer, S.; Silaghi, C.