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Could wild boar help keep a tick-borne bacterium circulating in Sweden?

Research: Disease, parasites & microbiology, Ecology

Neoehrlichia mikurensis is a tick-borne bacterium detected in ticks across Europe. Small rodents are known hosts, but the role of larger mammals in its transmission cycle is less clear. Researchers tested whether wild boar (Sus scrofa) might host the bacterium and help it persist in nature. They analysed spleen samples from 87 wild boar collected in southern and central Sweden between 2023 and 2025, in regions where the bacterium is known to be prevalent in ticks.

No bacterial DNA was detected in any of the samples. This suggests that wild boar may play only a limited role in maintaining N. mikurensis in Sweden. Because the study tested spleen samples, rare or short-lived infections cannot be ruled out.

Sources and image credit

  1. Neoehrlichia mikurensis, where art thou? A negative analysis of 87 Swedish wild boars (Sus scrofa)Primærkildens tilgjengelige sammendrag oppgir studieområde og -periode, antall dyr, prøvetype, test for N. mikurensis-DNA, resultat og forfatternes tolkning. Fullteksten var ikke tilgjengelig for kontroll.

Image: Hillebrand Steve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Representative photograph. · Public domain · Source

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Disease, parasites & microbiology

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