Shaw Margaret T, Keesing Felicia, McGrail Robert, Ostfeld Richard S
Department of Biology, Bard College, Annandale, New York 12504, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2003 Apr;68(4):447-52.
Because of differences among hosts in reservoir competence for tick-borne diseases, the distribution of larval blacklegged ticks on hosts might determine tick infection prevalence and disease risk to humans. We conducted a three-part study to determine the factors responsible for greater burdens of larval blacklegged ticks on white-footed mice than on eastern chipmunks. A microhabitat study indicated that questing ticks have higher encounter rates with mice than with chipmunks. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that ticks oriented more strongly toward mice. However, larval ticks fed more successfully from chipmunks. Our results strongly suggest that mice are both more likely to use larval tick-infested microhabitats and to attract questing larvae than are chipmunks, leading to a dramatically higher initial infestation rate, which is then reduced by greater grooming activity by mice. The high mortality rate of larvae that were experimentally introduced onto mice suggests that grooming is a significant cause of mortality to larval blacklegged ticks.
由于宿主对蜱传疾病的储存能力存在差异，幼虫黑脚蜱在宿主上的分布可能决定蜱的感染率以及人类面临的疾病风险。我们开展了一项分为三个部分的研究，以确定导致白足鼠身上的幼虫黑脚蜱负担比东部花栗鼠身上更重的因素。一项微生境研究表明，正在 questing 的蜱与老鼠的相遇率高于与花栗鼠的相遇率。实验室实验证明，蜱对老鼠的定向更强。然而，幼虫蜱从花栗鼠身上获取食物更为成功。我们的结果有力地表明，与花栗鼠相比，老鼠更有可能利用有幼虫蜱寄生的微生境，也更能吸引正在 questing 的幼虫，从而导致初始感染率显著更高，随后由于老鼠更强的梳理活动而有所降低。实验性地引入到老鼠身上的幼虫的高死亡率表明，梳理是幼虫黑脚蜱死亡的一个重要原因。 注：questing 这个词在文中可能有特定含义，但未明确给出准确释义，暂保留英文。
