THE 1ST CONFERENCE ON NEGLECTED VECTORS AND VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES (EURNEGVEC) WITH MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AND WORKING GROUP MEETINGS OF THE COST ACTION TD1303 CLUJ-NAPOCA, APRIL 8-11 2014 WWW.EURNEGVEC.ORG ABSTRACT BOOK EUR NEG partners: VEC SECTION 1 Abstracts published in Parasites & Vectors 2014 7(Suppl 1) Chaligiannis et al. Parasites & Vectors 2014, 7(Suppl 1):O1 http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/7/S1/O1 ORALPRESENTATION Open Access Ticks feeding on ruminants and humans in Greece I Chaligiannis1,2,3*, A Papa3, S Sotiraki2 From The 1st Conference on Neglected Vectors and Vector-Borne Diseases (EurNegVec): with Management Committee and Working Group Meetings of the COST Action TD1303 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 8-11 April 2014 Ticks are important vectors of disease and transmit an H. excavatum 8 (5.6%); H. dromedarii 67 (47.2%); extensive range of viral, bacterial and protozoan pathogens H. rufipes 4(2.8%);H. impeltatum 1 (0.7%); H. anatolicum to livestock in a wide variety of habitats. In recent years, 3(2.1%)andH. turanicum 3(2.1%). diseases such as babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis Finally, 701 ticks were coming from humans and identi- have all shown evidence of increased prevalence and dis- fied as: R. sanguineus 562 (80.17%); R. bursa 23 (3.28%); tribution in various parts of Europe. However data con- R. turanicus 34 (4.85%); R. annulatus 5(0.71%);H. margin- cerning the prevalence of ticks and tick borne diseases atum 30 (4.28%); H. excavatum 2 (0.28%); H. rufipes 11 present in livestock and humans in Greece are limited. (1.57%); Dermacentor marginatus 2 (0.28%); Ixodes ricinus In order to fill this gap we performed the current study 6 (0.85%); I. gibosus 6 (0.85%) and Rhipicephalus nymphs to define the existence and prevalence of different tick spe- 20 (2.85%). cies found in farm animals and humans. As regards live- In conclusion, the majority of ticks found in both animal stock, we focused on ruminants (mainly sheep and goats species and humans examined belonged in the Rhipice- and, in a lesser extent, cattle) since they are the only ones phalus sanguineus group which is the main vector of spend time on pastures. A sufficient number of farms all Rickettsia conorii, while Hyalomma marginatum, the vec- over the country were visited during 2 tick seasons (from tors of CCHF virus, were also present. The above results March to October), taking different habitats and animal were more or less anticipated given the climatic conditions density around Greece into account. Ticks collected from of the area, fact that also explains the low prevalence of humans originated from infected individuals who visited Ixodes spp. hospitals. In total, 2676 ticks were collected from 26 different Authors’ details prefectures (mainland and islands) all over Greece. 1State Veterinary Laboratory of Thrace, Ministry of Rural Development and From those, 1,883 were coming from sheep (1201) and Food, Komotini 691 00, Greece. 2Veterinary Research Institute of Thessaloniki, 3 goats (681) and identified as: Rhipicephalus sanguineus HAO-Demeter (former NAGREF), Thermi 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece. A’ Department of Microbiology, Medical School, Aristotle University of 1,216 (64.65%); R. bursa 495 (26.3%); R. camicasi 12 (0.6%); Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. R. turanicus 70 (3.7%); Ixodes ricinus 1(0.05%);Dermacen- tor marginatus 47 (2.5%); Hyalomma marginatum 5 Published: 1 April 2014 (0.3%); H. excavatum 2 (0.1%), H. dromedarii 31 (1.6%) H. rufipes 2(0.1%);H. impeltatum 1(0.05%);andRhipicepha- lus nymph 1 (0.05%). More than half (54.3%) of the above doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-S1-O1 Cite this article as: Chaligiannis et al.: Ticks feeding on ruminants and were found in an altitude of 0-300 meters, 37.1% in an humans in Greece. Parasites & Vectors 2014 7(Suppl 1):O1. altitude of 301-800m and 3.2% in an altitude of >800m. 142 ticks originated from cattle and were identified as: R. sanguineus 15 (10.5%); R. bursa 6 (4.2%); R. camicasi 5 (3.5%); R. turanicus 6(4.2%);H. marginatum 24 17%); * Correspondence: [email protected] 1State Veterinary Laboratory of Thrace, Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Komotini 691 00, Greece Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2014 Chaligiannis et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Gewehr et al. Parasites & Vectors 2014, 7(Suppl 1):O2 http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/7/S1/O2 ORALPRESENTATION Open Access Risk assessment for West Nile Virus in Northern Greece (2010-2013) S Gewehr*, S Kalaitzopoulou, L Slavi, S Mourelatos From The 1st Conference on Neglected Vectors and Vector-Borne Diseases (EurNegVec): with Management Committee and Working Group Meetings of the COST Action TD1303 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 8-11 April 2014 Since the large WN fever epidemic in Central Macedonia habitat monitoring are permanently used to optimize in 2010 caused by WNV Lineage 2, with a total of 262 vector control measures that are implemented in the cases (197 neuroinvasive, incidence rate 1:140), WNV region of Central Macedonia. cases are reported every year from different areas through- Funding: Ecodevelopment, Hellenic Center for Disease out Greece (2011: 100 cases/75 neuroinvasive, 2012: 161/ Control & Prevention, Integrated Surveillance and Control 109, 2013: 86/51). WN fever has become one of the most Programme for West Nile Virus and Malaria in Greece. important issues for the National Health Authorities in terms of vector-borne diseases. Published: 1 April 2014 From 2011 and onwards, for the surveillance of WNV in Central Macedonia, two major networks were established by Ecodevelopment in collaboration with the Hellenic doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-S1-O2 CDC, the region of Central Macedonia and four specia- Cite this article as: Gewehr et al.: Risk assessment for West Nile Virus in lized laboratories: 1) A network of 60 CO2-traps for adult Northern Greece (2010-2013). Parasites & Vectors 2014 7(Suppl 1):O2. mosquitoes at fixed sites monitored biweekly for 4 months every year. Pools of 10-50 Culex spp. are forwarded weekly to the laboratories for the detection of WNV. 2) A net- work of sentinels (domestic pigeons and/or backyard chickens, 40 -50 hencoops or pigeon coops, 400-450 sam- ples/year) for blood sampling in early summer and/or at the end of the hot season. In the plain of Thessaloniki, in early summer (June) the seroconversion in chickens reached 11,9% (28 positive/236 chickens) in 2011 versus 4,1% (8 positive/197 chickens) in 2013. The corresponding average weekly Minimum Infec- tion Rate (M.I.R.) for the period mid June-end August was Submit your next manuscript to BioMed Central 1.73 in 2011 and 0.39 in 2013 respectively. These data and take full advantage of: seem to support the hypothesis that it is possible to relate the level of WNV circulation (infected mosquitoes and • Convenient online submission animal sentinels) with the upcoming human WNV cases: • Thorough peer review 16 human neuroinvasive cases were recorded in 2011 • No space constraints or color figure charges versus 5 cases in 2013. • Immediate publication on acceptance The follow up of the epidemiological risk through these • Inclusion in PubMed, CAS, Scopus and Google Scholar two networks in combination with the weekly epidemiolo- • Research which is freely available for redistribution gical reports of the Hellenic CDC and the results of larval Submit your manuscript at * Correspondence: [email protected] www.biomedcentral.com/submit Ecodevelopment S.A., Thessaloniki, Greece © 2014 Gewehr et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. IgnjatovićĆupina et al. Parasites & Vectors 2014, 7(Suppl 1):O3 http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/7/S1/O3 ORALPRESENTATION Open Access Outbreaks of blackflies and related problems in Serbia: past and present situation A IgnjatovićĆupina1*, D Werner2, M Kúdela3, L Vujanović4, T Brúderová3, A Giannelli5, M Zgomba1, D Petrić1 From The 1st Conference on Neglected Vectors and Vector-Borne Diseases (EurNegVec): with Management Committee and Working Group Meetings of the COST Action TD1303 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. 8-11 April 2014 Due to the repeated outbreaks of blackflies, consequent eco- Present state of blackfly fauna composition indicates nomical losses and health problems, Serbia was considered the existing risk of outbreaks of some species in the as the most threatened European country in the past. Dur- future. ing the last century (up to `60s), Simulium colombaschense Acknowledgements: The study was supported by The caused enormous losses of livestock. Significant losses in Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Devel- poultry production caused by S. maculatum were also opment of the Republic of Serbia (projects TR31084 and reported in 1958, while S. erythrocephalum caused severe III43007). dermatological problems in humans in 1965 and 1970. In the last fifteen years, repeated outbreaks of black- Authors’ details flies and reemerging of bite related problems in humans 1Faculty of Agriculture, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.