Table 3.
Presence of A. phagocytophilum in vertebrate tissue samples
| Species | Common name | Tested (n) | Positive (n) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apodemus flavicollis | Yellow-necked mouse | 2 | 0 |
| Apodemus sylvaticus | Wood mouse | 23 | 1 |
| Crocidura russula | White-toothed shrew | 5 | 0 |
| Microtus arvalis | Common vole | 8 | 0 |
| Myodes glareolus | Bank vole | 35 | 0 |
| Sorex araneus | Common shrew | 6 | 0 |
| Carduelis chloris | Greenfinch | 4 | 0 |
| Coccothraustes coccothraustes | Hawfinch | 2 | 0 |
| Fringilla coelebs | Common chaffinch | 3 | 0 |
| Parus major | Great tit | 4 | 0 |
| Phylloscopus trochilus | Willow warbler | 1 | 0 |
| Pyrrhula pyrrhula | Bullfinch | 1 | 0 |
| Turdus iliacus | Redwing | 5 | 0 |
| Turdus merula | Common blackbird | 11 | 1 |
| Turdus philomelos | Song thrush | 6 | 0 |
| Capreolus capreolus | Roe deer | 38 | 26 |
| Equus ferus caballus | Domestic horse | 14 | 14 |
| Vulpes vulpes | Red fox | 81 | 8 |
| Meles meles | Badger | 40 | 0 |
| Total | 289 | 50 |
DNA extracts from spleen and EDTA-blood of wildlife and horses were tested by qPCR. The presence of A. phagocytophilum was confirmed in most cases by conventional PCR using groEL specific primer pairs, followed by sequencing. Positive animal species are shown in bold.