Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Adv Med Sci. 2012;57(2):364-9. doi: 10.2478/v10039-012-0023-9.
The aims of this study were: (1) to estimate Babesia prevalence in the most common species of tick in Poland, Ixodes ricinus, in two recreational areas (Urwitałt in the Mazury Lake District and Bielański Forest in Warsaw), and (2) to evaluate the molecular diversity of Babesia isolates in questing I. ricinus in Poland.
Questing ticks were collected from vegetation in forest areas in Urwitałt near Mikołajki and in Bielański Forest (Warsaw). Purified genomic DNA was used with specific primers to amplify a fragment of the Babesia spp. 18S rRNA gene.
Tick-drag indices for I. ricinus were high in both study areas, reaching somewhat higher values in Urwitałt than in Bielański Forest. The overall prevalence of Babesia spp. in examined ticks was 1.6%. In Urwitałt, two strains of B. microti were identified using rRNA sequences: the enzootic Munich strain and an isolate close to the zoonotic Jena strain. The proportion of infections due to these two strains in questing ticks reversed over a six-year period. During 3 years of study in Bielański Forest, all Babesia isolates obtained from I. ricinus were identical to Babesia sp. EU1 (B. venatorum), previously recognized as an agent of human babesiosis.
This study has confirmed the presence of enzoonotic and zoonotic Babesia species/strains in the abundant human-biting tick I. ricinus in recreational areas in Poland. It has also shown that the distribution of different genotypes has changed over time, however the reasons for these fluctuations still remain to be investigated.
本研究的目的是：（1）评估波兰最常见的 tick 物种（Ixodes ricinus）中巴尔通体的流行率，在两个娱乐区（Mazury Lake District 的 Urwitałt 和华沙的 Bielański Forest）；（2）评估波兰 questing I. ricinus 中巴尔通体分离株的分子多样性。
从 Urwitałt 附近的 Mikołajki 和 Bielański Forest（华沙）森林地区的植被中采集 questing ticks。使用特异性引物从纯化的基因组 DNA 中扩增巴尔通体 spp.18S rRNA 基因片段。
两个研究区的 tick-drag 指数均较高，Urwitałt 的指数略高于 Bielański Forest。检查 tick 中巴尔通体 spp.的总流行率为 1.6%。在 Urwitałt，使用 rRNA 序列鉴定了两种伯氏疏螺旋体 B. microti 菌株：地方性的慕尼黑株和接近人畜共患的耶拿株。六年来，questing ticks 中两种菌株的感染比例发生了逆转。在 Bielański Forest 的 3 年研究期间，从 I. ricinus 获得的所有巴尔通体分离株均与 Babesia sp. EU1（B. venatorum）相同，先前被认为是人类巴贝斯虫病的病原体。
本研究证实了在波兰娱乐区丰富的人咬 tick I. ricinus 中存在地方性和人畜共患性巴尔通体物种/菌株。它还表明，不同基因型的分布随时间发生了变化，但这些波动的原因仍有待调查。
