TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in ticks collected from migratory birds in Latvia
AU - Capligina, Valentina
AU - Salmane, Ineta
AU - Keišs, Oskars
AU - Vilks, Karlis
AU - Japina, Kristine
AU - Baumanis, Viesturs
AU - Ranka, Renate
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a grant of the Latvian Council of Science , No. 10.0029.3 , the European Social Fund within the project “Support for Doctoral Studies at University of Latvia” and by FEBS (Federation of European Biochemical Societies) within the project “FEBS Collaborative Experimental Scholarship for Central & Eastern Europe”. We thank the numerous volunteers that helped with the bird captures at the Pape Ornithological Research station.
PY - 2014/2
Y1 - 2014/2
N2 - Migratory birds act as hosts and long-distance vectors for several tick-borne infectious agents. Here, feeding Ixodes ticks were collected from migratory birds during the autumn migration period in Latvia and screened for the presence of epidemiologically important non-viral pathogens. A total of 93 DNA samples of ticks (37 larvae and 56 nymphs) removed from 41 birds (order Passeriformes, 9 species) was tested for Lyme borreliosis spirochaetes, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia spp., and Babesia spp. Borrelia burgdorferi DNA was detected in 18% of the tick samples, and a majority of infected ticks were from thrush (. Turdus spp.) birds. Among the infected ticks, Borrelia valaisiana was detected in 41% of cases, Borrelia garinii in 35%, and mixed Bo. valaisiana and Bo. garinii infection in 24%. Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA was detected in 2% of ticks, R. helvetica in 12%, and Babesia spp. pathogens in 4% of ticks. Among these samples, 3 Babesia species were identified: Ba. divergens, Ba. microti, and Ba. venatorum. Coinfection with different pathogens that included mixed infections with different Borrelia genospecies was found in 20% of nymphal and 3% of larval Ixodes ticks. These results suggest that migratory birds may support the circulation and spread of medically significant zoonoses in Europe.
AB - Migratory birds act as hosts and long-distance vectors for several tick-borne infectious agents. Here, feeding Ixodes ticks were collected from migratory birds during the autumn migration period in Latvia and screened for the presence of epidemiologically important non-viral pathogens. A total of 93 DNA samples of ticks (37 larvae and 56 nymphs) removed from 41 birds (order Passeriformes, 9 species) was tested for Lyme borreliosis spirochaetes, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia spp., and Babesia spp. Borrelia burgdorferi DNA was detected in 18% of the tick samples, and a majority of infected ticks were from thrush (. Turdus spp.) birds. Among the infected ticks, Borrelia valaisiana was detected in 41% of cases, Borrelia garinii in 35%, and mixed Bo. valaisiana and Bo. garinii infection in 24%. Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA was detected in 2% of ticks, R. helvetica in 12%, and Babesia spp. pathogens in 4% of ticks. Among these samples, 3 Babesia species were identified: Ba. divergens, Ba. microti, and Ba. venatorum. Coinfection with different pathogens that included mixed infections with different Borrelia genospecies was found in 20% of nymphal and 3% of larval Ixodes ticks. These results suggest that migratory birds may support the circulation and spread of medically significant zoonoses in Europe.
KW - Birds
KW - Ixodes ticks
KW - Latvia
KW - Tick-borne pathogens
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84888386694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2013.08.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2013.08.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 24246709
AN - SCOPUS:84888386694
SN - 1877-959X
VL - 5
SP - 75
EP - 81
JO - Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
JF - Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
IS - 1
ER -
