title: Serosurvey of Borrelia in dogs, horses, and humans exposed to ticks in a rural settlement of southern Brazil.
abstract: The aims of the present study were to serosurvey dogs, horses, and humans highly exposed to tick bites for anti-Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. antibodies, identify tick species present, and determine risk factors associated with seropositivity in a rural settlement of Paraná State, southern Brazil. Eighty-seven residents were sampled, along with their 83 dogs and 18 horses, and individual questionnaires were administered. Immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT) was performed on serum samples and positive samples were subjected to western blot (WB) analysis. Anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies were found in 4/87 (4.6%) humans, 26/83 (31.3%) dogs, and 7/18 (38.9%) horses by IFAT, with 4/4 humans also positive by WB. Ticks identified were mostly from dogs and included 45/67 Rhipicephalus sanguineus, 21/67 Amblyomma ovale, and 1/67 A. cajennense sensu lato. All (34/34) horse ticks were identified as A. cajennense s.l.. No significant association was found when age, gender, or presence of ticks was correlated to seropositivity to Borrelia sp. In conclusion, although anti-Borrelia antibodies have been found in dogs, horses and their owners from the rural settlement, the lack of isolation, molecular characterization, absence of competent vectors and the low specificity of the commercial WB kit used herein may have impaired risk factor analysis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Denise Amaral Gomes
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Nascimento
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Rafael Felipe da Costa
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Thállitha Samih Wischral Jayme
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Roberta Dos Santos
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Toledo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Katia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamekuni
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Nelson Jessé Rodrigues Dos
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária e Saúde Pública, Universidade Paranaense - UNIPAR, Umuarama, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Daniela Dibb
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Leptospirose e Doença de Lyme, Unidade de Microbiologia Médica, Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine - IHMT, Universidade Nova de Lisboa - UNL, Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Luísa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Paraná - UFPR, Curitiba, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Alexander Welker
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Biondo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
authors.forename: Odilon
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vidotto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000276:immunology*; D001938:Brazil; D004285:Dogs; D006736:Horses; D006801:Humans; D026863:Ixodidae / Q000382:microbiology; D048508:Rhipicephalus sanguineus / Q000382:microbiology; D012423:Rural Health; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial