Abstract
Jia et al. (Jia et al., 2020) reported major discoveries on genetic basis of hematophagy and vector capacities in ticks. Our re-examination of the tick metagenomic datasets shows that nutritional endosymbionts required for hematophagy were also widely present. They were mis-identified as tick-borne pathogens, indicating that the risk of infection associated with ticks was lower that initially stated.