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Multi-species infections are common among ticks, however, the mechanism by which <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. coexists with other pathogens within the tick vector is poorly understood. Furthermore, the extent to which <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. interact with other pathogens or how multi-species infections influence pathogen loads in ticks and consequently, their transmission success and pathogenicity, remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of co-infections on occurrence and loads of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. and other pathogens in <jats:italic>I. ricinus<\/jats:italic>. In the years 2021\u20132022, we collected 2073 <jats:italic>I. ricinus<\/jats:italic> ticks from tick-bitten individuals from around Poland and analyzed individually for the presence of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp., <jats:italic>Rickettsia<\/jats:italic> spp., <jats:italic>Neoehrlichia mikurensis<\/jats:italic>,<jats:italic> Anaplasma phagocytophilum<\/jats:italic>,<jats:italic> Babesia<\/jats:italic> spp. and <jats:italic>Bartonella<\/jats:italic> spp. using molecular methods. Loads of pathogens were determined with droplet digital PCR technique. Of the 324 ticks positive for <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp., 76 were co-infected with at least one different pathogen. We observed higher prevalence of <jats:italic>Babesia<\/jats:italic> spp. and <jats:italic>N. mikurensis<\/jats:italic> among <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. \u2013 positive ticks than in ticks uninfected with <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. (3.4% vs. 1.3% and 10.2% vs. 4.2% respectively). A similar positive correlation was observed between <jats:italic>Babesia<\/jats:italic> spp. and <jats:italic>N. mikurensis<\/jats:italic>. Additionally, the loads of <jats:italic>N. mikurensis<\/jats:italic> were nearly twice as high in <jats:italic>Babesia<\/jats:italic> spp. \u2013 positive ticks compared to those not infected with this pathogen. This study is among the first to explore influence of co-infections on pathogen loads in multi-infected ticks feeding on humans. Understanding the relationships between pathogens coexisting in ticks may broaden our insight into epidemiology of tick-borne diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-05885-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]],"date-time":"2025-07-01T14:32:44Z","timestamp":1751380364000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Coexistence of Borrelia spp. with different tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes ricinus ticks removed from humans in Poland"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Julia","family":"Koczwarska","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Justyna","family":"Polaczyk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wiktoria","family":"Wieczorek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olga","family":"Zdzienicka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"\u017b\u00f3ra\u0144ska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agnieszka","family":"Pawe\u0142czyk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Renata","family":"Welc-Fal\u0119ciak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,1]]},"reference":[{"issue":"7","key":"5885_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1261","DOI":"10.1007\/s10096-024-04836-5","volume":"43","author":"E Pustijanac","year":"2024","unstructured":"Pustijanac, E. et al. 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