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As a part of research activities focused on rodent helminth fauna in Serbia, over the previous decade, we registered the presence of a species with zoonotic potential, Moniliformis moniliformis, an acanthocephalan (or spiny-headed worm) intestinal parasite that primarily infects rats, mice, and voles. The adult form of the species M. moniliformis was found in the small intestine of a single striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius) from Cer Mountain, and two individuals of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) from the localities of Donji Milanovac and Senokos. Another species of Acanthocephala, reported in earlier studies of Spermophilus citellus in Serbia, is Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus, which also has zoonotic potential. Data on human infection with the acanthocephalans are scarce worldwide, including Serbia, but they should not be ignored.

The primary objectives of this study were (1) to determine the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in ticks removed from patients for the purpose of singling out sites with increased risk of Lyme borreliosis, and (2) to determine the presence of IgM and/or IgG antibodies against B. burgdorferi sensu lato (s. l.) complex in sera of patients who had ticks removed. From 108 ticks removed from patients, all were examined zoologically and a sub-sample of 91 ticks was tested using PCR analysis to determine the presence of DNA indicating B. burgdorferi infection. To detect anti-Borrelia IgM and/ or IgG antibodies in 61 patients bitten by ticks, we used line recombinant immunoblot test. The most common tick identified was Ixodes ricinus. B. burgdorferi s. l. was present in 37 of 91 tested ticks (40.7%). Seroconversion against B. burgdorferi s. l. antigen was detected in 12 of 61 patients (19.7%). Most of the infected ticks were from the province of Vojvodina (11 municipalities), with the city of Novi Sad proving to be the site with the highest number of infected ticks, 6 in total.