title: Survival dynamics of tick-borne encephalitis virus in Ixodes ricinus ticks.
abstract: Biotic factors contributing to the survival of tick-borne viruses in nature are poorly understood. Using tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and its principal European vector, Ixodes ricinus, we examined the relative roles of salivary gland infection, co-feeding transmission, and moulting in virus survival. Virus titres in the salivary glands increased after blood-feeding in a time- and dose-dependent manner. This was observed in ticks infected by inoculation but not in ticks infected by the natural route of co-feeding. Amplification of infection prevalence occurred via co-feeding. However, when larvae or nymphs subsequently moulted, the infection prevalence dramatically declined although this was not observed when ticks were infected by inoculation. Trans-stadial survival is a hitherto overlooked parameter that may contribute to the low incidence of TBEV infection in field-collected I. ricinus ticks.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Slovák
authors.affiliation: Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Mária
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kazimírová
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siebenstichová
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Katarína
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ustaníková
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia; Institute of Virology, Charité Medical School, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Klempa
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gritsun
authors.affiliation: Unité des Virus Emergents, Faculté de Médecine de Marseille, Aix-Marseille Universite, France; NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ernest A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.affiliation: NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Electronic address: pat.nuttall@zoo.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Nuttall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000502:physiology*; D004675:Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D015994:Incidence; D018884:Ixodes / Q000821:virology*; D007814:Larva; D008297:Male; D009758:Nymph; D015995:Prevalence; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000821:virology; D014779:Virus Replication
keywords: Co-feeding transmission; Ixodes ricinus; Salivary glands; TBEV; Trans-stadial survival