Strain Origin Host Tissue examined Infection type Characterization of infection A. phagocytophilum Isolated from infected sheep in the Basque Country, Spain [30] (Genbank accession number EU436164) Sheep PBMC Experimental acute infection Infection was confirmed by microscopic examination of stained blood smears and msp4 PCR [7,30] Isolated from infected Eurasian wild boar hunter-killed in Slovenia, genotipically identical to strains   isolated from humans, dogs andI. ricinus ticks [31] (Genbank accession numbers AY055469, AF033101 and EU246961) Wild boar PBMC Natural chronic infection Infection was confirmed by 16S rDNA and groESLPCRs and sequence analysis [31] B. ovis R virulent PA strain Provided by Dr. J.M. Verger. Unite´ d’Infectiologie Animale et Sante´ Publique, INRA, Nouzilly, France [32,33] Sheep PBMC Experimental acute infection Infection was confirmed at necropsy by bacterial culture, morphology, Gram staining, oxidase and urease tests, CO2 requirements and phage typing [8,34] B. suis biovar 2 Isolated from infected Eurasian wild boar in Navarra, Spain [34,35] Wild boar Spleen Natural chronic infection Infection was confirmed by bacterial culture and seroconversion [5,36] M. bovis Isolated from infected Eurasian wild boar in Southwestern Spain [3] Wild boar Spleen Natural chronic infection Infection was confirmed at necropsy by pathology, bacterial culture and spoligotyping [3,4]

Table 1: Bacterial strains and experimental animals.