{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T08:02:40Z","timestamp":1784016160957,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]],"date-time":"2024-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1734480000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]],"date-time":"2024-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1734480000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic","award":["LUC23151"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LUC23151"]}]},{"name":"Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic","award":["LUC23151"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LUC23151"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Parasites Vectors"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p><jats:italic>Borrelia miyamotoi<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Borrelia burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> sensu lato (s.l.) are important zoonotic agents transmitted by <jats:italic>Ixodes ricinus<\/jats:italic> ticks, which are widely distributed across Central Europe. Understanding the spatial distribution of these pathogens\u2019 prevalence will help identify areas with increased infection risk and facilitate the implementation of effective preventive measures.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>We analysed 12,955 <jats:italic>I. ricinus<\/jats:italic> ticks collected from 142 towns in the Czech Republic between 2016 and 2018. The ticks were pooled into 2591 groups of five and tested using duplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) for the presence of <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> s.l. and <jats:italic>B. miyamotoi<\/jats:italic>. For each location, we estimated the overall prevalence of both agents using the EpiTools Epidemiological Calculator for pooled samples and calculated the minimum infection rate (MIR). To assess the potential risk of infection, we combined data on the abundance of nymphs and females with pathogen prevalence at each sampled site. Using a geographic information system (GIS), we mapped the MIR and infection risk of both <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> species across all 142 sampled locations and employed a geostatistical method (ordinary kriging) to predict MIR values and infection risk as continuous surfaces across the entire country.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>We detected <jats:italic>B. miyamotoi<\/jats:italic> in 110 localities and <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> s.l. in all 142 localities. The estimated prevalence of <jats:italic>B.<\/jats:italic>\u00a0<jats:italic>miyamotoi<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> s.l. in the collected ticks was 2.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8\u20132.3) and 27.1% (95% CI 26.0\u201328.3), respectively. For <jats:italic>B. miyamotoi<\/jats:italic>, we identified previously unknown, geographically distinct hotspots of MIR up to 8.3%, with MIR slightly higher in females (2.3%) than in males (1.9%) and nymphs (1.8%), though the difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> s.l. exhibited ubiquitous presence, with consistently high prevalence nationwide, showing similar MIRs in females (16.2%) and males (16.1%), and slightly lower in nymphs (15.6%). The highest infection risk for <jats:italic>B. miyamotoi<\/jats:italic> was 12.4 infected vectors per hour in southeastern Moravia, while the highest risk for <jats:italic>B. burgdorferi<\/jats:italic> s.l. reached 78.6 infected vectors per hour in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p><jats:italic>Borrelia miyamotoi<\/jats:italic> is widespread, forming distinct high-prevalence areas in certain regions. <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>\u00a0<jats:italic>burgdorferi<\/jats:italic>\u00a0s.l. demonstrates consistently high prevalence across most of the country, except for a few localized areas such as southwestern Czechia. Both pathogens exhibit natural nidality, forming regions with elevated prevalence and infection risk. Long-term time-series data are needed to confirm the spatio-temporal stability of these hotspots.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Graphical Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                \n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-024-06549-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]],"date-time":"2024-12-18T17:43:44Z","timestamp":1734543824000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Borrelia miyamotoi and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato widespread in urban areas of the Czech Republic"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5161-4393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alena","family":"Bal\u00e1\u017eov\u00e1","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1113-6320","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tom\u00e1\u0161","family":"V\u00e1clav\u00edk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6521-5350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vojtech","family":"Bal\u00e1\u017e","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7671-4144","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pavel","family":"\u0160irok\u00fd","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"6549_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1678","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2010.131583","volume":"20","author":"CD Crowder","year":"2014","unstructured":"Crowder CD, Carolan HE, Rounds MA, Honig V, Mothes B, Haag H, et al. 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