On the potential roles of ticks and migrating birds in the ecology of West Nile virus.
BACKGROUND
Mosquitoes are the primary vectors of West Nile virus (WNV). Ticks have, however, been suggested to be potential reservoirs of WNV. In order to investigate their role in the spread of the virus, ticks, which had been collected from birds migrating northwards from Africa to Europe, were analyzed for the potential presence of WNV-RNA.


METHODS
On the Mediterranean islands Capri and Antikythira a total of 14,824 birds were captured and investigated from which 747 ticks were collected.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the identified ticks (93%) were nymphs and larvae of Hyalomma marginatum sensu lato, most of which were or appear to be Hyalomma rufipes. Of these ticks 729 were individually screened for WNV-RNA. None of the ticks was found to be WNV positive. Thus, there was no evidence that Hyalomma marginatum s.l. ticks play a role in the spread of WNV from Africa to Europe.
Section for Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Karl
K
Hagman
Hellenic Ornithological Society and Natural History Museum of Crete, Crete, Greece.
Christos
C
Barboutis
Section for Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Christian
C
Ehrenborg
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.
Thord
T
Fransson
Department of Systematic Biology, Medical Entomology Unit, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Thomas G T
TG
Jaenson
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Microbiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Per-Eric
PE
Lindgren
Department of Medical Microbiology and Biochemistry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden ; Swedish Institute for Communicable Diseases and Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
Ake
A
Lundkvist
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Microbiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
Fredrik
F
Nyström
Center for Ecology and Evolution, Microbial Model Systems, Linneaus University, Kalmar, Sweden.
Jonas
J
Waldenström
Section for Infectious Diseases, Department of Medical Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Erik
E
Salaneck
Hyalomma marginatum s.l.; Hyalomma rufipes; West Nile virus; emerging infectious diseases; migratory birds; ticks; zoonoses