Nunn M A, Barton T R, Wanless S, Hails R S, Harris M P, Nuttall P A
NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3SR.
Parasitology. 2006 Feb;132(Pt 2):233-40. doi: 10.1017/S0031182005008930. Epub 2005 Oct 11.
Great Island Virus (GIV) is an arbovirus present in the tick Ixodes uriae, a common ectoparasite of nesting seabirds. Common guillemot (Uria aalge) and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) are the preferred and most abundant hosts of I. uriae on the Isle of May, Scotland. As part of a study to understand the epidemiology of GIV, the ability of guillemot and kittiwake to support tick-borne transmission of GIV was examined. GIV was present in ticks feeding in isolated guillemot colonies and guillemots had virus-specific neutralizing antibodies demonstrating previous GIV infection. By contrast, only uninfected ticks were found in colonies inhabited solely by kittiwakes. GIV was isolated from kittiwake ticks in colonies which also contained breeding guillemots but no virus-specific neutralizing antibodies were present in blood samples of kittiwake on which infected ticks were feeding. Thus guillemots are the main vertebrate hosts of GIV on the Isle of May whereas kittiwakes do not appear to be susceptible to infection. Virus infection of adult ticks feeding on guillemots was highly efficient and may involve both viraemic transmission and transmission from infected to uninfected ticks feeding together on birds that do not develop a patent viraemia.
大岛病毒（GIV）是一种虫媒病毒，存在于海鸟巢寄生的常见体外寄生虫——海鸟硬蜱中。普通海雀（海鸠）和黑脚三趾鸥是苏格兰梅岛上海鸟硬蜱的首选宿主且数量最多。作为了解GIV流行病学研究的一部分，研究了海雀和三趾鸥支持GIV经蜱传播的能力。在隔离的海雀群落中进食的蜱体内存在GIV，并且海雀具有病毒特异性中和抗体，表明之前感染过GIV。相比之下，在仅由三趾鸥栖息的群落中只发现了未感染的蜱。在同时也有繁殖海雀的群落中，从三趾鸥的蜱中分离出了GIV，但在被感染蜱叮咬的三趾鸥血液样本中未发现病毒特异性中和抗体。因此，海雀是梅岛上GIV的主要脊椎动物宿主，而三趾鸥似乎不易感染。以海雀为食的成年蜱的病毒感染效率很高，可能涉及病毒血症传播以及在未出现明显病毒血症的鸟类身上一起进食的感染蜱向未感染蜱的传播。
