title: Occurrence of Bartonella henselae and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato co-infections in ticks collected from humans in Germany.
abstract: Bartonella (B.) henselae is the zoonotic agent of cat scratch disease. B. henselae has been associated with therapy-resistant Lyme disease in humans suggesting that B. henselae and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato might be transmitted concurrently by ticks. In the present study we found that 16 (6.9%) of 230 Ixodes ricinus collected from humans harboured DNA of Bartonella spp. Fifteen positive ticks were infected with B. henselae and one tick with B. clarridgeiae. Twenty-five percent of the 16 Bartonella positive ticks were co-infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Our data show that B. henselae is present in Ixodes ricinus and that ticks may serve as source of infection for humans.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mietze
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strube
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beyerbach
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schnieder
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goethe
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018416:Bartonella henselae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005858:Germany; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial