TICK INFESTATION PATTERNS AND PREVALENCE OF BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI IN TICKS COLLECTED AT A VETERINARY CLINIC IN GERMANY

A total of 4803 domestic and wild animals which were presented for exa mination at a veterinary clinic in north Baden, Germany over a period of 1 year were examined for tick infestation, A total of 434 nymphal a nd adult ticks were collected from 175 hosts, Ticks found belonged to the species Ixodes ricinus (385), Ixodes hexagonus (48), and Ixodes ve ntalloi (one). The polymerase chain reaction was used to examine 132 I . ricinus and 21 I. hexagonus for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi , Twenty-two per cent of adult I. ricinus were infected as were one fe male and one larval I. hexagonus.