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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Detecting the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, in Ticks Using Nested PCR
Published on: February 4, 2018
Detection of Anaplasma dna in Ixodes ricinus ticks: pitfalls
Silvie Sikutová1, Ivo Rudolf, Maryna Golovchenko
1Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kvĕtná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
A total of 150 nymphal Ixodes ricinus (L., 1758) (Acari: Ixodidae) from the Czech Republic were examined for Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Foggie, 1949) Dumler et al., 2001 by PCR using EHR521/747 primers: 22 of 50 pools were positive (minimum prevalence, 14.7%). However, sequencing of the PCR products did not show complete homology with A. phagocytophilum (91%) while the closest relationship (95%) was found to "Candidatus Ehrlichia walkefii". The results indicate a need for care in interpretation of Anaplasma PCR results and for PCR optimization for detecting A. phagocytophilum in ticks.

