Ticks (Acarina: Ixodidae) as vectors and reservoirs of pathogen microorganisms in Spain

Hard and soft-ticks are obligate haematophagous arachnids of medical and veterinary significance mainly because of the animal disease agents transmitted by them, which include an array of different pathogens (virus, bacteria, protozoa and nematodes). Ticks transmit microbes by several routes including salivary secretions, coxal fluids, regurgitation and faeces. Among the biological factors that contribute to the high vector potential of ticks are their living habits and characteristic properties of their saliva secretions and blood digestion. In the Iberian Peninsula, the prostriata tick Ixodes ricinus, and the metastriata Dermacentor marginatus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus and Hyalomma marginatum are the main species that could bite man, and are involved in the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, several genoespecies of Rickettsia (R. conorii, R. slovaca, R. aeschlimannii) and Anaplasma phagocytophila.