Journal article

Shared Odds of Borrelia and Rabies Virus Exposure in Serbia

Pavle Banovic, Adrian Alberto Diaz-Sanchez, Dragana Mijatovic, Dragana Vujin, Zsolt Horvath, Nenad Vranjes, Zorana Budakov-Obradovic, Nevenka Bujandric, Jasmina Grujic, Abdul Ghafar, Abdul Jabbar, Verica Simin, Dasiel Obregon, Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz

PATHOGENS | MDPI | Published : 2021

Abstract

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease in Serbia and other European countries. Rabies is a fatal zoonosis distributed worldwide and is caused by the rabies virus. Professionals at risk of rabies-including veterinarians, hunters, communal service workers, and forestry workers-overlap with some professions at a higher risk of exposure to tick bites and tick-borne pathogen infections. We hypothesized that individuals identified by the public health system as at risk of rabies virus infection, and consequently vaccinated against rabies virus, also share a higher likelihood of Borrelia exposure. To test our hypothesis, a case-control study was carried out during 2019 in Serbi..

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Grants

Awarded by French Government's Investissement d'Avenir program, Laboratoire d'Excellence "Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases"


Funding Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Snezana Tomanovic (the University of Belgrade, Institute for Medical Research, Group of Medical Entomology) for providing B. afzelli culture. UMR BIPAR is supported by the French Government's Investissement d'Avenir program, Laboratoire d'Excellence "Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases" (grant no. ANR-10-LABX-62-IBEID).