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Background  Ticks are important carriers of many different zoonotic pathogens. To date, there are many studies about ticks and tick-borne pathogens (TBP), but only a few were carried out in Bulgaria. The present study intends to detect the prevalence of tick-borne bacteria and parasites occurring at the Black Sea in Bulgaria to evaluate the zoonotic potential of the tick-borne pathogens transmitted by ticks in this area.    Methods  In total, cDNA from 1541 ticks ( Dermacentor  spp.,  Haemaphysalis  spp.,  Hyalomma  spp.,  Ixodes  spp. and  Rhipicephalus  spp.) collected in Bulgaria by flagging method or from hosts was tested in pools of ten individuals each for  Anaplasma phagocytophilum ,  Babesia  spp.,  Borrelia burgdorferi  ( s . l .),  Rickettsia  spp. and “ Candidatus  Neoehrlichia mikurensis”  via  conventional and quantitative real-time PCR. Subsequently, samples from positive pools were tested individually and a randomized selection of positive PCR samples was purified, sequenced, and analyzed.    Results  Altogether, 23.2% of ticks were infected with at least one of the tested pathogens. The highest infection levels were noted in nymphs (32.3%) and females (27.5%). Very high prevalence was detected for  Rickettsia  spp. (48.3%), followed by  A. phagocytophilum  (6.2%),  Borrelia burgdorferi  ( s . l .) (1.7%),  Babesia  spp. (0.4%) and “ Ca . Neoehrlichia mikurensis” (0.1%). Co-infections were found in 2.5% of the tested ticks (mainly  Ixodes  spp.). Sequencing revealed the presence of  Rickettsia monacensis ,  R. helvetica , and  R. aeschlimannii ,  Babesia microti  and  B. caballi , and  Theileria buffeli  and  Borrelia afzelli.Conclusion  This study shows very high prevalence of zoonotic  Rickettsia  spp. in ticks from Bulgaria and moderate to low prevalence for all other pathogens tested. One should take into account that tick bites from this area could lead to  Rickettsia  infection in humans and mammals.

The diversity of tick-borne bacteria and parasites in ticks collected from the Strandja Nature Park in south-eastern Bulgaria