Prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in ticks collected from migratory birds in Latvia.
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.
Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Ratsupites Street 1, Riga LV-1067, Latvia.
Valentina
V
Capligina
Ineta
I
Salmane
Oskars
O
Keišs
Karlis
K
Vilks
Kristine
K
Japina
Viesturs
V
Baumanis
Renate
R
Ranka
D041081:Anaplasma phagocytophilum / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology; D001403:Babesia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001483:Base Sequence; D001898:Borrelia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology; D007814:Larva; D007844:Latvia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009758:Nymph; D046109:Passeriformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission
Birds; Ixodes ticks; Latvia; Tick-borne pathogens