engleski

Climate change and animal disease: Vectors and vector borne pathogens in Croatia

Globalization and climate change have an unprecedented worldwide impact on emergence and re-emergence of animal diseases, especially vector borne diseases. Climate change is transforming natural ecosystems and providing more suitable environments for infectious diseases allowing the movement of bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi into new areas where they can infect wildlife and domestic species, as well as humans. Diseases that used to be limited only to tropical areas are now increasingly spreading to other previously unaffected region as is happening in region and Croatia. The aim of this manuscript is to present new insights into vectors and emergent/re-emergent vector borne pathogens in Croatia. Bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes 1 and 16 were introduced in Oryx antelope from the Sultanate of Oman during the quarantine period on the Island of Veliki Brijun (Croatia) in 2010. In 2002 first outbreak was caused with serotypes 9 followed by serotype 16 in 2004. Serotypes 4 and 1 were responsible for recent outbreak in 2014. Except predominant vectors from Obsoletus complex and Pulicaris complex several ‘new’ species were molecularly confirmed but their vector capacity is unknown. In several wild ungulates A. bovis and A. centrale have been detected in the Croatian costal region. Both pathogens cause bovine anaplasmosis, economically one of the most important diseases. Anaplasma ovis was recently confirmed in sheep flock and questing Rhipicephalus bursa and ticks collected from sheep and goats from same region. Presence of Babesia cf. crassa in Rhipiephalus sanguineus from Pelješac and questing Hamaphisalis parva from Slavonia represent one of first findings in Europe. Theileria cf. buffeti and Babesia sp. Angola Isolate were detected in I. ricinus tick from Cres and Rhipicephalus turanicus from Pelješac. In R. turanicus and R. bursa ticks as well in sheep Theileria ovis and Babesia ovis have been confirmed from Southern Croatia. For the end vaccination of cattle against Lumpy skin disease was mandatory for last two years due to outbreaks in neighbouring countries. The improvement of epizootic understanding together with better programs for diagnose, prevention and trace pathogens, their origin and routes of infection, play a key role in future prevention of vector-borne diseases in Croatia as well in worldwide.

climate change ; vector borne diseases

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