title: Anti-Borrelia antibodies in rodents: important hosts in ecology of Lyme disease.
abstract: Data presented in this study focuses on the presence of anti-Borrelia antibodies in small mammals from Eastern Slovakia during 2000-2003. The total seropositivity observed was 18.78% in rodents. Amongst all species, the total seroprevalence in Apodemus flavicolis was the highest (20.87%), followed by Apodemus agrarius (19.58%) and Clethrionomys glareolus (11.11%). However, the prevalence in Apodemus flavicolis during the year 2000-2001 was higher (26.72%), which reduced to 10.60% in 2002-2003. To compare the year range of seroprevalence in other small mammals was not feasible due to the small sample number. Area-wise distribution of anti-Borrelia antibodies was even (18.75% to 20%) in this study, except in the Bot'any province (0%). This confirms the equal distribution of Borrelia spirochetes in the other 3 localities. Prevalence of anti-Borrelia antibodies during summer was significantly higher than during autumn and early spring. The overall study also reviews the importance of small mammals in Lyme disease ecology.
authors.affiliation: Parasitological Institute of the Slovak Academy of Science, Hlinkova 3, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia. astefan@saske.sk
authors.forename: Astéria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stefancíková
authors.forename: Mangesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bhide
authors.forename: Branislav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pet'ko
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stanko
authors.forename: Ladislav
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mosanskỳ
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fricova
authors.forename: Markéta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Derdáková
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trávnicek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D000917:Antibody Formation; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000276:immunology* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission*; D009115:Muridae / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G