Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, USC INRA Bartonella-Tiques, ANSES, Maisons-Alfort, France.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2011;5(5):e1186. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001186. Epub 2011 May 31.
Bartonella spp. are facultative intracellular vector-borne bacteria associated with several emerging diseases in humans and animals all over the world. The potential for involvement of ticks in transmission of Bartonella spp. has been heartily debated for many years. However, most of the data supporting bartonellae transmission by ticks come from molecular and serological epidemiological surveys in humans and animals providing only indirect evidences without a direct proof of tick vector competence for transmission of bartonellae. We used a murine model to assess the vector competence of Ixodes ricinus for Bartonella birtlesii. Larval and nymphal I. ricinus were fed on a B. birtlesii-infected mouse. The nymphs successfully transmitted B. birtlesii to naïve mice as bacteria were recovered from both the mouse blood and liver at seven and 16 days after tick bites. The female adults successfully emitted the bacteria into uninfected blood after three or more days of tick attachment, when fed via membrane feeding system. Histochemical staining showed the presence of bacteria in salivary glands and muscle tissues of partially engorged adult ticks, which had molted from the infected nymphs. These results confirm the vector competence of I. ricinus for B. birtlesii and represent the first in vivo demonstration of a Bartonella sp. transmission by ticks. Consequently, bartonelloses should be now included in the differential diagnosis for patients exposed to tick bites.
巴尔通体属（Bartonella spp.）是一种兼性细胞内寄生的节肢动物传播细菌，与全球人类和动物的多种新发疾病相关。蜱类在巴尔通体属传播中的作用多年来一直备受争议。然而，大多数支持蜱类传播巴尔通体属的证据来自于人类和动物的分子和血清流行病学调查，这些证据仅提供了间接证据，而没有直接证明蜱类具有传播巴尔通体属的能力。我们使用鼠模型来评估伊氏革螨（Ixodes ricinus）传播巴尔通体属（Bartonella birtlesii）的能力。幼虫和若虫伊氏革螨以感染巴尔通体属的老鼠为食。在蜱叮咬后 7 天和 16 天，从老鼠血液和肝脏中均回收了细菌，证明了若虫成功地将巴尔通体属传播给了未感染的老鼠。当通过膜饲养系统喂食时，雌性成虫在附着蜱虫 3 天或更长时间后成功地将细菌排放到未感染的血液中。组织化学染色显示，从感染的若虫中蜕皮的部分饱血的成年蜱虫的唾液腺和肌肉组织中存在细菌。这些结果证实了伊氏革螨传播巴尔通体属（B. birtlesii）的能力，并代表了通过蜱传播的第一例巴尔通体属（Bartonella sp.）的体内证明。因此，在对暴露于蜱叮咬的患者进行鉴别诊断时，应现在将巴通体病纳入其中。
