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Understanding and responding to the ecological, social and economic conditions that facilitate disease emergence and transmission represents a substantial challenge for epidemiologists and health professionals. In this article we integrate knowledge about the human and the vector population, to provide a context from which to examine the underlying causal factors of D. marginatus-borne diseases emergence in the study area. Within this framework we analyse the biotic and abiotic factors that drive D. marginatus population dynamics and the role of its typical host for dispersal. These investigations suggest that D. marginatus is a tick species prone to spatially overlap its presence with human population presence. Then we consider the public health implications for the residents, when simply carrying out trivial outdoor activities may increase the risk to contact an infected tick.

In this work, we have analyzed the key features of Rickettsia spp. maintenance in Dermacentor marginatus ticks in four regions of the northern Mediterranean area, where extensive investigations are currently lacking. For this purpose, 380 adult D. marginatus ticks were collected from vegetation and wild ungulates during a 3-year study. A host-vector-pathogen interaction approach was applied to investigate the key components of the disease systems and evaluate their respective weight in the intensity of infection in natural foci. A high variability in the R. slovaca infection rate among sampling sites was observed, whereas R. raoultii was sporadically present and at low infection rates. Dermacentor marginatus presence was confirmed in all the investigated regions. The local wild boar population showed a strong association with adult D. marginatus ticks. The results of this investigation suggest that wild boars not only maintain D. marginatus populations by feeding adult ticks, but may also have a potential role in the eco-epidemiology of rickettsioses, as carriers of rickettsiae-infected ticks. The public health implications of these results are discussed.