Prevalence of Lyme disease Borrelia spp. in ticks from migratory birds on the Japanese mainland.
Borrelia sp. prevalence in ticks on migratory birds was surveyed in central Japan. In autumn, a total of 1,733 birds representing 40 species were examined for ticks. A total of 361 ticks were obtained from 173 birds of 15 species, and these ticks were immature Haemaphysalis flava (94.4%), Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes columnae, Ixodes persulcatus, Ixodes turdus, and an unidentified Ixodes species. Of these, 27 juveniles of H. flava on Turdus pallidus, Turdus cardis, or Emberiza spodocephala, 2 juveniles of I. persulcatus on T. pallidus, and 1 female H. flava molted from a T. pallidus-derived nymph were positive for the presence of Borrelia by Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly culture passages. In spring, a total of 16 ticks obtained from 102 birds of 21 species were negative for the spirochete. Isolates from 15 ticks were characterized by 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis; all isolates were identified as Borrelia garinii with pattern B/B' based on the previous patterning. According to the intergenic spacer sequences, 2 of 15 isolates, strains Fi14f and Fi24f, were highly similar to B. garinii strains 935T of Korea and ChY13p of Inner Mongolia, China, respectively. These findings indicate that Lyme disease-causing B. garinii may have been introduced to Japan by migratory birds from northeastern China via Korea. Additionally, a case of transstadial transmission of B. garinii from nymph to adult H. flava suggests that the infected H. flava may transmit Borrelia to large animals.
Ishiguro
F
F
Fukui Prefectural Institute of Public Health, Fukui 910-8551, Japan. bqx02406@nifty.ne.jp
Takada
N
N
Masuzawa
T
T
Fukui
T
T
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000469:parasitology*; D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005426:Flight, Animal; D007564:Japan; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009758:Nymph / Q000382:microbiology; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal