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Review
. 2024 Jun 17;13(6):512.
doi: 10.3390/pathogens13060512.

Prevalence of Lyme Disease and Relapsing Fever Borrelia spp. in Vectors, Animals, and Humans within a One Health Approach in Mediterranean Countries

Myrto Koutantou  1 , Michel Drancourt  2 , Emmanouil Angelakis  1
Affiliations
Review

Prevalence of Lyme Disease and Relapsing Fever Borrelia spp. in Vectors, Animals, and Humans within a One Health Approach in Mediterranean Countries

Myrto Koutantou et al. Pathogens. .

Abstract

The genus Borrelia has been divided into Borreliella spp., which can cause Lyme Disease (LD), and Borrelia spp., which can cause Relapsing Fever (RF). The distribution of genus Borrelia has broadened due to factors such as climate change, alterations in land use, and enhanced human and animal mobility. Consequently, there is an increasing necessity for a One Health strategy to identify the key components in the Borrelia transmission cycle by monitoring the human-animal-environment interactions. The aim of this study is to summarize all accessible data to increase our understanding and provide a comprehensive overview of Borrelia distribution in the Mediterranean region. Databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google were searched to determine the presence of Borreliella and Borrelia spp. in vectors, animals, and humans in countries around the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 3026 were identified and screened and after exclusion of papers that did not fulfill the including criteria, 429 were used. After examination of the available literature, it was revealed that various species associated with LD and RF are prevalent in vectors, animals, and humans in Mediterranean countries and should be monitored in order to effectively manage and prevent potential infections.

Keywords: Borrelia; Borreliella; Lyme Disease; One Health; bacteria; human-animal-environment interaction; louse-borne; relapsing fever; tick-borne; zoonoses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree of the genus Borrelia from LD and RF groups constructed with the neighbor joining method with 1000 Bootstrap replications in MEGA 11.0 software based on the flaB gene.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Interactions among humans, animals, and the environment within a One Health concept.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Transmission of Borreliella spirochetes.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Map of Borreliella spp. in vectors in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Map of Borreliella spp. in animals in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Map of Borreliella spp. in humans in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Transmission of RF Borrelia spirochetes.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Map of Borrelia spp. in vectors in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Map of Borrelia spp. in animals in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Map of Borrelia spp. in humans in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
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