Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), in contrast to ticks (Acari: Ixodidae), do not carry Francisella tularensis in a natural focus of tularemia in the Czech Republic.
In total, 9,167 mosquitoes (Aedes spp.) and 1,987 ixodid ticks--1,423 Dermacentor reticulatus (F.), 504 Ixodes ricinus (L.), and 60 Haemaphysalis concinna Koch--were examined in an active enzootic focus (floodplain forest-meadow ecosystem) of tularemia in South Moravia. Czech Republic. Although no F. tularensis was detected in mosquitoes or H. concinna, 30 isolates were recovered from D. reticulatus (infection rate, 2.1%) and 1 isolate from I. ricinus (infection rate, 0.2%). Ixodid ticks, especially D. reticulatus, but not mosquitoes serve as vectors (and perhaps reservoirs) of F. tularensis at this natural focus.
Hubálek
Z
Z
Institute of Landscape Ecology, Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic.
Halouzka
J
J
D000330:Aedes / Q000382:microbiology*; D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D003870:Dermacentor / Q000382:microbiology; D005604:Francisella tularensis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*; D014406:Tularemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission