Capligina Valentina, Salmane Ineta, Keišs Oskars, Vilks Karlis, Japina Kristine, Baumanis Viesturs, Ranka Renate
Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Ratsupites Street 1, Riga LV-1067, Latvia.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2014 Feb;5(1):75-81. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2013.08.007. Epub 2013 Nov 15.
Migratory birds act as hosts and long-distance vectors for several tick-borne infectious agents. Here, feeding Ixodes ticks were collected from migratory birds during the autumn migration period in Latvia and screened for the presence of epidemiologically important non-viral pathogens. A total of 93 DNA samples of ticks (37 larvae and 56 nymphs) removed from 41 birds (order Passeriformes, 9 species) was tested for Lyme borreliosis spirochaetes, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia spp., and Babesia spp. Borrelia burgdorferi DNA was detected in 18% of the tick samples, and a majority of infected ticks were from thrush (Turdus spp.) birds. Among the infected ticks, Borrelia valaisiana was detected in 41% of cases, Borrelia garinii in 35%, and mixed Bo. valaisiana and Bo. garinii infection in 24%. Anaplasma phagocytophilum DNA was detected in 2% of ticks, R. helvetica in 12%, and Babesia spp. pathogens in 4% of ticks. Among these samples, 3 Babesia species were identified: Ba. divergens, Ba. microti, and Ba. venatorum. Coinfection with different pathogens that included mixed infections with different Borrelia genospecies was found in 20% of nymphal and 3% of larval Ixodes ticks. These results suggest that migratory birds may support the circulation and spread of medically significant zoonoses in Europe.
候鸟是几种蜱传感染因子的宿主和远距离传播媒介。在此，于拉脱维亚秋季迁徙期间从候鸟身上采集正在取食的硬蜱，并对具有重要流行病学意义的非病毒病原体进行筛查。从41只鸟（雀形目，9个物种）身上采集的总共93份蜱的DNA样本（37只幼虫和56只若虫）检测了莱姆病螺旋体、嗜吞噬细胞无形体、立克次体属和巴贝斯虫属。在18%的蜱样本中检测到伯氏疏螺旋体DNA，且大多数受感染的蜱来自鸫科（鸫属）鸟类。在受感染的蜱中，41%的病例检测到瑞士巴贝斯虫，35%检测到加林伊氏螺旋体，24%检测到瑞士巴贝斯虫和加林伊氏螺旋体混合感染。2%的蜱检测到嗜吞噬细胞无形体DNA，12%检测到瑞士立克次体，4%的蜱检测到巴贝斯虫属病原体。在这些样本中，鉴定出3种巴贝斯虫：分歧巴贝斯虫、微小巴贝斯虫和尾巴贝斯虫。在20%的若虫和3%的幼虫硬蜱中发现了不同病原体的共感染，包括不同疏螺旋体基因型的混合感染。这些结果表明，候鸟可能在欧洲促进了具有医学意义的人畜共患病的传播和扩散。
