Prizes for Nadine HOHENSEE (ISPTM) and Anna-Margarita SCHÖTTA (HAI) at the at the Annual Meeting of the ÖGTPM

The 49th Annual Meeting of the Austrian Society of Tropical Medicine, Parasitology and Migration Medicine took place from 12th – 14th November 2015 in Vienna.

• Nadine Hohensee was awarded the JUNIOR AWARD 2015 for the work:

Digenean trematodes in freshwater snails in the surroundings of Vienna with a focus on species involved in human infections
Nadine Hohensee, Helmut Sattmann, Christoph Hörweg, Julia Walochnik

Cercariae of different species of bird schistosomes are known to be the causative agents of human cercarial dermatitis. Besides Trichobilharzia species, which are the most frequent cause for this disease, infections may also be caused by related genera. The most important final hosts are waterfowl of the family Anatidae, however, humans may be infested when the so-called furcocercariae accidentally penetrate the skin of bathing humans. The distribution of bird schistosomes is expanding and cercarial dermatitis has been recognized as an emerging disease in Europe. In contrast, echinostomosis is a foodborne disease, which can be caused by at least 20 species of 8 genera, of which the genus Echinostoma is the most important. The infective metacercariae encyst in freshwater snails, fish, mollusks, crustaceans and frogs and are taken up orally by the vertebrate final host. The disease is endemic to Southeast Asia due to food patterns, however, the pathogens occur worldwide and there is a general risk of infection. Detailed knowledge of the prevalence of medically important digeneans in Austria is important for a profound risk assessment. In the current project we investigate several locations in the surroundings of Vienna and collect the main intermediate hosts, Lymnaea stagnalis and Radix spp. Out of 732 collected lymnaeid snails 8% harbored echinostome cercariae, and 1% furcocercariae. An overview of the digeneans found will be presented.

• Anna-Margarita SCHÖTTA was awarded the POSTER PRIZE 2015 for the work:

Detection of microbial pathogens in ticks collected in Austria
Anna-M. Schötta, Michiel Wijnveld, Hannes Stockinger and Gerold Stanek

Ticks are the second most common hematophagous vectors after mosquitos and can transmit a huge number of various pathogens that can lead to human disease. Cases of tick-borne diseases are often underestimated due to a lack of specific symptoms in the patients. Therefore patients who have been bitten by an infected tick might be suffering from a tickborne disease which could be mistaken for another illness.

Aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of microbial pathogens in ticks collected in Austria with the PCR/reverse line blot hybridization technique.

A total number of 554 Ixodes ricinus ticks have been screened by using this method. The pathogen with the highest prevalence detected was Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in 25.6% with B.afzelii (56.3%) being the most frequently detected species within these positive ticks. followed by B.burgdorferi sensu stricto (26.8%) and B.valaisiana (25.4%). B.garinii/B.bavariensis, B.lusitaniae and B.spielmanii have been detected in 19.7%, 3.5% and 0.7% of the Borrelia positive ticks, respectively. Co-infections with multiple Borrelia strains occurred in 27.4% of the positive ticks. Rickettsiae spp. represented the pathogen group with the second highest prevalence in 16.8% of the ticks. The species detected were R.helvetica (41.9%), R.monacensis (2.2%), R.slovaca (1.1%) and interestingly R.raoultii in a very high number (40.9% of the Rickettsia positive ticks) with a hotspot in Vienna (Lainzer Tiergarten). This finding still needs to be further investigated due to the fact that R.raoultii has not been detected in I.ricinus ticks before.

Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis, Babesia spp. (B.venatorum, B.divergens,B.microti) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum have been detected in 4.3%, 2.7% and 0.7%, respectively. No Coxiella burnetti positive ticks were found.

Congratulations to the awardees!