Prevalence of tick-borne encephalitis virus in Ixodes ricinus and Dermacentor reticulatus ticks collected from the Lublin region (eastern Poland)

A total of 875 nymphal and adult Ixodes ricinus ticks and 148 adult Dermacentor reticulatus ticks were collected by flagging lower vegetation in the Lublin region (eastern Poland) and examined for the presence of RNA of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) by nested RT-PCR. The minimum infection rate of I. ricinus ticks with TBEV amounted to 1.6% while the infection rate of D. reticulatus ticks was 10.8%. The results suggest that D. reticulatus may be a potential vector of TBEV in Central Europe.