BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1602706
This article is part of the Research TopicSentinels of Health: Advancements in Monitoring and Surveillance of Vector-Borne Diseases in Domestic and Wild Animals and VectorsView all 17 articles
Seroprevalence study for selected zoonotic vector-borne pathogens in sheep from endemic areas of Croatia
Provisionally accepted
Ljubo Barbic1*
Vladimir Stevanovic1
Maja Mauric Maljkovic1Gorana Miletic1Ivona Coric1
Vladimir Savic2
Viktor Masovic2Maja Bogdanic3
Alan Medic4
Tatjana Vilibic-Cavlek3*- 1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
- 2Croatian Veterinary Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
- 3Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, Croatia
- 4Zadar County Institute of Public Health, Zadar, Croatia
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Surveillance is crucial in controlling and preventing vector-borne zoonotic diseases (VBDs). We analyzed the seroprevalence of vector-borne zoonotic pathogens in sheep from endemic areas in Croatia. A total of 300 sheep from seven farms at three micro-locations were tested for the presence of IgG antibodies against tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), West Nile virus (WNV), Usutu virus (USUV), Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) using ELISA with confirmation of borderline/positive results by VNT. Seropositivity for at least one pathogen was observed in 18.0% (54/300) of sheep. The highest seroprevalence was confirmed for TBEV (9.7%; 29/300), followed by WNV (3.0%; 9/300) and B. burgdorferi s.l. (2.7%; 8/300), while USUV and inconclusive flavivirus (TBEV/WNV/USUV) infections had the same seroprevalence of 1.3% (4/300). None of the serum samples tested positive for CCHFV. Geographic micro-location was a significant risk factor for USUV (P=0.045), TBEV (P=0.03), and B. burgdorferi s.l. (P=0.015) infections. The farm distance from the household (TBEV P<0.001, B. burgdorferi s.l. P=0.005) and sheep breed (TBEV P<0.001, B. burgdorferi s.l. P<0.001) were found as risk factors for tick-borne (TBEV, B. burgdorferi s.l.), but not for mosquito-borne diseases (WNV, USUV). Of the other risk factors, sheep shearing was statistically significant, with unshared sheep showing a higher probability of tick-borne diseases (P=0.048). Sex, age, herd size, and the presence of clinical signs were not associated with the seroprevalence. Serologic evidence of VBDs suggests the sentinel potential of sheep for mapping micro-foci of zoonotic pathogens' activity. Further studies are needed to confirm this observation.
Keywords: Tick-borne encephalitis virus, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., West Nile virus, Usutu virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Sentinels
Received: 30 Mar 2025; Accepted: 07 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Barbic, Stevanovic, Mauric Maljkovic, Miletic, Coric, Savic, Masovic, Bogdanic, Medic and Vilibic-Cavlek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ljubo Barbic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia
Tatjana Vilibic-Cavlek, Croatian Institute of Public Health, Zagreb, 10000, Croatia
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