@article{Banović2021b,
title = {Shared Odds of Borrelia and Rabies Virus Exposure in Serbia},
author = {Pavle Banović and Adrian Alberto Díaz-Sánchez and Dragana Mijatović and Dragana Vujin and Horvath Zsolt and Nenad Vranješ and Zorana Budakov-Obradovic and Nevenka Bujandric and Jasmina Grujic and Abdul Gaffar and Abdul Jabbar and Verica Simin and Dasiel Obregon and Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz},
editor = {Ángeles Sonia Olmeda},
doi = {10.3390/pathogens10040399},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-28},
journal = {Pathogens},
volume = {10},
number = {4},
abstract = {Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne disease in Serbia and other European countries. Rabies is a fatal zoonosis distributed worldwide and is caused by the rabies virus. Professionals at risk of rabies—including veterinarians, hunters, communal service workers, and forestry workers—overlap with some professions at a higher risk of exposure to tick bites and tick-borne pathogen infections. We hypothesized that individuals identified by the public health system as at risk of rabies virus infection, and consequently vaccinated against rabies virus, also share a higher likelihood of Borrelia exposure. To test our hypothesis, a case-control study was carried out during 2019 in Serbia to determine the seroprevalence of anti-Borrelia antibodies in two case groups (individuals at risk and vaccinated against rabies virus) and a control group (individuals without risk of rabies). Individuals vaccinated against rabies following either “pre-exposure protocol” (PrEP, n = 58) or “post-exposure protocol” (PEP, n = 42) were considered as rabies risk groups and healthy blood donors (n = 30) as the control group. The results showed higher Borrelia seroprevalence in PrEP (17.2%; 10/58) and PEP (19.0%; 8/42) groups compared with the control group (6.67%; 2/30). Furthermore, odds ratio (OR) analysis showed that risk of rabies (in either the PrEP (OR = 2.91) or PEP (OR = 3.29) groups) is associated with increased odds of being seropositive to Borrelia. However, the difference in Borrelia seroprevalence between groups was not statistically significant (Chi-square (χ²) test p > 0.05). The shared odds of LB and rabies exposure found in this study suggest that, in countries where both diseases occur, the common citizen can be at risk of both diseases when in a risky habitat. These findings are important to guide physicians in targeting high-risk groups, and diagnose LB, and to guide decision-makers in targeting control and prevention measures for both infections in risk areas.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Banović2021,
title = {Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Seropositivity among Tick Infested Individuals in Serbia},
author = {Pavle Banović and Dasiel Obregon and Dragana Mijatović and Verica Simin and Srđan Stankov and Vesna Turkulov and Siniša Sević and Zorana Budakov-Obradovic and Nevenka Bujandric and Jasmina Grujic and Adrian Alberto Díaz-Sánchez and Alejandro Cabezas-Cruz},
editor = {Sergio E. Bermúdez},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/10/3/301/pdf},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/ pathogens10030301},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-03-05},
journal = {Pathogens},
volume = {10},
abstract = {Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), caused by the TBE virus (TBEV), is a life-threatening disease
with clinical symptoms ranging from non-specific to severe inflammation of the central nervous
system. Despite TBE is a notifiable disease in Serbia since 2004, there is no active TBE surveillance
program for the serologic or molecular screening of TBEV infection in humans in the country. This
prospective cohort study aimed to assess the TBEV exposure among tick-infested individuals in
Serbia during the year 2020. A total of 113 individuals exposed to tick bites were recruited for the
study and screened for anti-TBEV antibodies using a commercial indirect fluorescent antibody test
(IFA) test. Blood samples from 50 healthy donors not exposed to tick bites were included as a control
group. Most of the enrolled patients reported infestations with one tick, being I. ricinus the most
frequent tick found in the participants. The TBEV seroprevalence was higher (13.27%, 15 total 113)
in tick-infested individuals than in healthy donors (4%, 2 total 50), although the difference was
not significant. Notably, male individuals exposed to tick bites showed five times higher relative
risk (RR) of being TBEV-seropositive than healthy donors of the same gender (RR= 5.1, CI = 1.6–19;
p = 0.007). None of the seropositive individuals developed clinical manifestations of TBE, but the first
clinical-stage of Lyme borreliosis (i.e., erythema migrans) was detected in seven of them. Potential
TBEV foci were identified in rural areas, mostly in proximity or within the Fruška Gora mountain.
We conclude that the Serbian population is at high risk of TBEV exposure. Further epidemiological
studies should focus on potential TBEV foci identified in this study. The implementation of active
surveillance for TBEV might contribute to evaluating the potential negative impact of TBE in Serbia.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Banović2020,
title = {Humans infested with Ixodes ricinus are exposed to a diverse array of tick-borne pathogens in Serbia},
author = {Pavle Banović, Adrian Alberto Díaz-Sánchez, Clemence Galon, Verica Simin, Dragana Mijatović, Dasiel Obregón, Sara Moutailler, AlejandroCabezas-Cruz
},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877959X20304799?fbclid=IwAR3nbGgtSfPEXPX54Vr7DTBcHI_KlKPum63yjfSznOTm7NFkh7PyqLzerTs},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2020.101609},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-11-24},
journal = {Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Verica2020,
title = {Borellia burgdorferi infection in removed ticks and anti-borrelia antibodies in infested patients admitted to the Pasteur Institute, Novi Sad},
author = {Simin Verica and Dragana Mijatović and Snežana Tomanović and Milan Miljević and Borislav Čabrilo and Bogdan Ivana and Pavle Banović},
doi = {10.2298/VETGL200527008S},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-10-03},
journal = {Veterinarski glasnik},
abstract = {Introduction. 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
Materials and Methods. 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.
Results and Conclusions. 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. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

@article{Gordana2020,
title = {Molecular evaluation of chronic restrain stress in mice model of non metastatic fibrosarcoma},
author = {Smieško Gordana and Banović Pavle and Gusman Vera and Simin Verica and Anca Maria Cimpean and Dušan Lalošević},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10735-020-09886-5},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10735-020-09886-5},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-06-18},
journal = {Journal of Molecular Histology},
abstract = {Chronic stress is regarded as a significant factor in the etiology of the many diseases. Numerous methods have been developed through which the effect of chronic stress is examined. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the new experimental model for analysis of immuno-suppression induced by chronic restraint stress, through challenge with conditionally tumorigenic cell line BHK-21/C13. 20 male NMRI mice were randomly divided into 2 groups—control and experimental. Each mouse was subcutaneously inoculated with BHK-21/C13 cells. Stress in the experimental group was induced for 20 days. After the experiment, tumor masses were removed, and analyzed using histology and immunohistochemistry techniques. We found a statistically significant difference (p = 0.034) in tumor expression and tumor volumes (p = 0.0061) between groups, as well as in immunopositivity on Ki67, cytochrome C and matrix metalloproteinase 9. Absence of immune infiltrate was noticed in experimental, and the presence of inflammatory infiltrate at tumor invasion front in control group.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}