Mapping tick-borne diseases in Greece: UNIC Professor leads major review

Comprehensive review of tick-borne pathogens and associated diseases across Greece

Tick borne diseases are on the rise across Europe, and Greece is one of the countries where climate and landscape make ticks an increasing concern for both humans and animals. A major review article led by Panagiotis Karanis, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Nicosia Medical School, brings together, for the first time, all available data on ticks and tick borne pathogens in Greece over the past century. The study, published in the MDPI journal Microorganisms under the title ‘Tick Borne Pathogens and Diseases in Greece’ (Efstratiou, A., Karanis, G., Karanis, P., 2021), catalogues the tick species present in the country, the diseases they transmit, and the environmental conditions that favour their spread.

The review analyses studies published up to the end of 2020, drawing from MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and European surveillance systems. The authors identify 26 species and subspecies of hard ticks (Ixodidae) parasitising domestic animals and humans in Greece. Fourteen of these are known carriers of pathogens, and most of those carry more than one pathogen. The paper summarises what is known about viral infections such as tick borne encephalitis and Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever, bacterial diseases caused by Rickettsia, Anaplasma, and Borrelia species, and protozoan infections including Babesia and Theileria, which are particularly important for livestock and equine health. It also documents where these ticks and pathogens have been found, which animal hosts they parasitise, and in which regions of Greece human and animal infections have been reported.

Commenting on the findings, Professor Karanis noted that Greece’s Mediterranean climate and ongoing environmental change are creating favourable conditions for ticks and the pathogens they carry. Mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers, together with increasing dry spells and rising temperatures, are likely to shift tick distributions and lengthen the period during which they are active.

‘Many of the tick species present in Greece are already recognised vectors of important human and veterinary pathogens,’ he explained, ‘yet surveillance and laboratory data remain fragmented. This raises the risk of under diagnosis and under reporting, and makes it more difficult to anticipate and manage future outbreaks’.

The review adopts a One Health perspective, underlining how human, animal, and environmental health are closely interconnected. Tick borne pathogens affect people, livestock, pets, and wildlife, and their spread is influenced by farming practices, land use, tourism, and the movement of animals and goods. By synthesising scattered data into a single, accessible resource, the paper provides an important reference point for those involved in monitoring and controlling tick borne diseases in Greece and the wider region.

The full open access article is available here: https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9081732