Emergence and genetic variability of Anaplasma species in small ruminants and ticks from Central Europe Marke ´ ta Derda ´ kova ´ a,b, *, Aste ´ ria S ˇ tefanc ˇı ´kova ´ a , Eva S ˇ pitalska ´ c , Veronika Taragel’ova ´ b , Tatiana Kos ˇt’a ´ lova ´ d , Gabriela Hrkl’ova ´ e , Kater ˇina Kybicova ´ f , Pavel Scha ´ nilec g , Vikto ´ ria Majla ´ thova ´ a , Maria ´n Va ´ rady a , Branislav Pet’ko a a Parasitological Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Kosˇice, Slovak Republic b Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic c Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovak Republic d Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic e The Catholic University, Ruzˇomberok, Slovak Republic f National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic g University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic 1. Introduction Anaplasmosis is the most common tick-borne zoonotic bacterial disease of livestock and free-living ungulates in Europe. The causative agents are intracellular gram- negative bacteria that belong to the family Anaplasma- taceae (Dumler et al., 2001). In Europe, Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the most frequently occurring and the most important pathogen of this family. It is transmitted by the Ixodid ticks, mostly Ixodes ricinus. It invades granulocytes and in ruminants causes tick-borne fever (Stuen, 2007; Woldehiwet, 2010). Anaplasma ovis represents another microorganism from the genus Anaplasma that is infective for sheep and goats. (De la Fuente et al., 2007). The infection in sheep and goats is usually asymptomatic. Sporadically it can cause haemolytic anaemia and haemoglobinuria (Hornok et al., 2007). The vectors of A. ovis include ticks from the genus Dermacentor, Rhipicephalus and Hyalomma (Friedhoff, 1997; Yin and Luo, 2007). The majority of cases of Veterinary Microbiology 153 (2011) 293–298 A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 11 February 2011 Received in revised form 18 May 2011 Accepted 25 May 2011 Keywords: Anaplasma phagocytophilum Anaplasma ovis Ixodes ricinus Dermacentor reticulatus Dermacentor marginatus Anaplasmosis A B S T R A C T Anaplasmoses are common tick-borne zoonotic bacterial diseases of livestock and free- living ungulates from the genus Anaplasma that are recently emerging in Central Europe. The main aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and genetic variability of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Anaplasma ovis in small ruminants and questing ticks from six different sites in Slovakia and the Czech Republic using the PCR of the msp4 gene followed by the sequence analysis. At two farms from southeastern Slovakia, 66.1% small ruminants were infected with A. ovis in contrast to one positive animal from both sites in northern Slovakia. It was represented by two different genotypes. A. phagocytophilum was present in all tested flocks with the infection prevalence ranging from 0.9% to 5.7%. None of the tested questing ticks carried A. ovis. A. phagocytophilum was detected in 1.1% and 7.8% of questing Ixodes ricinus ticks collected around the farms located in southeastern and northern Slovakia, respectively. A. phagocytophilum revealed higher intraspecific diversity than A. ovis. ß 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author at: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Du ´ bravska ´ cesta 9, Bratislava 845 06, Slovak Republic. Tel.: +421 2 59302648-49; fax: +421 2 59302646. E-mail address: marketa.derdakova@savba.sk (M. Derda ´ kova ´). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Veterinary Microbiology jo u rn al ho m epag e: ww w.els evier.c o m/lo cat e/vetmic 0378-1135/$ – see front matter ß 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.05.044