LYME DISEASE – THE GREAT IMITATOR**

Abstract: Lyme disease, or Lyme borreliosis can occur in domestic animals and in people, with no characteristic symptoms. That is why Lyme disease is often diagnosed and treated as some other disease. Clinical symptoms of this disease are not specific and they can look like a number of different diseases, which is why the disease is called – the great imitator. The reservoirs of the disease are ticks Ixodes ricinus. During the research from 2005 to 2007 it was established that the prevalence with Lyme borreliosis exists within the tick population. The objective of this paper is a survey of the presence of Lyme disease in different populations of different animal species (horses, cattle, sheep and dogs) in the region where the infection of ticks with Borrelia burgdorferi was established in the percentage of 25-28%. The methods used were the ones for the determination of Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks, with a dark field microscopy, and also the presence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi was determinated with

Sand Fly and Leishmania Spp. Survey in Vojvodina (Serbia): First Detection of Leishmania Infantum Dna in Sand Flies and The First Record of Phlebotomus (Transphlebotomus) Mascittii Grassi, 1908

Background Leishmaniasis in Serbia was an endemic disease, and is considered to be eradicated for more than 40 years. In the past decade sporadic cases of canine leishmaniasis started to emerge for the first time in Vojvodina Province (previously non-endemic region of Serbia). Reports of introduced, and later on autochthonous cases of leishmaniasis alerted the possibility of disease emergence. The aim of this study was to bridge more than a half a century wide gap in entomological surveillance of sand fly vectors in Vojvodina, as well as to verify the presence of the vector species that could support Leishmania spp. circulation. Results During the period 2013–2015, a total of 136 sand flies were collected from 48 of 80 surveyed locations. Four sand fly species of the genus Phlebotomus were detected: P. papatasi, P. perfiliewi, P. mascittii and P. neglectus. Detection of P. mascittii represents the first record of this species for the sand fly fauna in Vojvodina and in Serbia. All female specimens (n = 80) were tested for Leishmania spp. DNA, and three blood-fed P. papatasi specimens were positive (4%). One positive DNA sample was successfully amplified by ITS1 nPCR. The RFLP analysis of the resulting 350 bp fragment showed a typical pattern of L. infantum, and the ITS1 partial sequence blasted in GenBank confirmed 100% identity with L. infantum and L. donovani complex sequences. This result represents the first record of both Leishmania spp. and L. infantum DNA from sand flies in Vojvodina, and in Serbia. Conclusions Presence of autochthonous canine leishmaniasis cases, records of Phlebotomus (Larroussius) species proven vectors of L. infantum (P. perfiliewi and P. neglectus) and detection of L. infantum DNA from wild caught (non-competent) vectors, prove that L. infantum is present in Vojvodina and indicates a probable circulation in the region.PubMedWoSScopu