title: BorreliaDiversity and Co-infection with Other Tick Borne Pathogens in Ticks.
abstract: IdentifyingBorrelia burgdorferias the causative agent of Lyme disease in 1981 was a watershed moment in understanding the major impact that tick-borne zoonoses can have on public health worldwide, particularly in Europe and the USA. The medical importance of tick-borne diseases has long since been acknowledged, yet little is known regarding the occurrence of emerging tick-borne pathogens such asBorreliaspp.,Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsiaspp.,Bartonellaspp., "CandidatusNeoehrlichia mikurensis", and tick-borne encephalitis virus in questing ticks in Romania, a gateway into Europe. The objective of our study was to identify the infection and co-infection rates of differentBorreliagenospecies along with other tick-borne pathogens in questing ticks collected from three geographically distinct areas in eastern Romania. We collected 557 questing adult and nymph ticks of three different species (534Ixodes ricinus, 19Haemaphysalis punctata, and 4Dermacentor reticulatus) from three areas in Romania. We analyzed ticks individually for the presence of eight differentBorreliagenospecies with high-throughput real-time PCR. Ticks withBorreliawere then tested for possible co-infections withA. phagocytophilum, Rickettsiaspp.,Bartonellaspp., "CandidatusNeoehrlichia mikurensis", and tick-borne encephalitis virus.Borreliaspp. was detected inI. ricinusticks from all sampling areas, with global prevalence rates of 25.8%. All eightBorreliagenospecies were detected inI. ricinusticks:Borrelia garinii(14.8%),B. afzelii(8.8%),B. valaisiana(5.1%),B. lusitaniae(4.9%),B. miyamotoi(0.9%),B. burgdorferis.s (0.4%), andB. bissettii(0.2%). Regarding pathogen co-infection 64.5% of infectedI. ricinuswere positive for more than one pathogen. Associations between differentBorreliagenospecies were detected in 9.7% of ticks, and 6.9% ofI. ricinusticks tested positive for co-infection ofBorreliaspp. with other tick-borne pathogens. The most common association was betweenB. gariniiandB. afzelii(4.3%), followed byB. gariniiandB. lusitaniae(3.0%). The most frequent dual co-infections were betweenBorreliaspp. andRickettsiaspp., (1.3%), and betweenBorreliaspp. and "CandidatusNeoehrlichia mikurensis" (1.3%). The diversity of tick-borne pathogens detected in this study and the frequency of co-infections should influence all infection risk evaluations following a tick bite.
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR Bipar, INRA, Anses, ENVAMaisons-Alfort, France; Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary MedicineIaşi, Romania.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raileanu
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR Bipar, INRA, Anses, ENVA Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moutailler
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iaşi, Romania.
authors.forename: Ionuţ
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pavel
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iaşi, Romania.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Porea
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Andrei D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Mihalca
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Iaşi, Romania.
authors.forename: Gheorghe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savuta
authors.affiliation: INRA, UMR Bipar, INRA, Anses, ENVA Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vayssier-Taussat
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001898:Borrelia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001899:Borrelia Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D060085:Coinfection; D005060:Europe; D005838:Genotype; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000382:microbiology*; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D015047:Zoonoses
keywords: Borrelia; Romania; co-infection; questing ticks; tick-borne pathogens