Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen , UK ; Division of Applied Medicine, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen , UK.
James Hutton Institute , Aberdeen , UK.
Front Public Health. 2014 Aug 28;2:129. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00129. eCollection 2014.
Lyme borreliosis is an emerging infectious human disease caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex of bacteria with reported cases increasing in many areas of Europe and North America. To understand the drivers of disease risk and the distribution of symptoms, which may improve mitigation and diagnostics, here we characterize the genetics, distribution, and environmental associations of B. burgdorferi s.l. genospecies across Scotland. In Scotland, reported Lyme borreliosis cases have increased almost 10-fold since 2000 but the distribution of B. burgdorferi s.l. is so far unstudied. Using a large survey of over 2200 Ixodes ricinus tick samples collected from birds, mammals, and vegetation across 25 sites we identified four genospecies: Borrelia afzelii (48%), Borrelia garinii (36%), Borrelia valaisiana (8%), and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (7%), and one mixed genospecies infection. Surprisingly, 90% of the sequence types were novel and, importantly, up to 14% of samples were mixed intra-genospecies co-infections, suggesting tick co-feeding, feeding on multiple hosts, or multiple infections in hosts. B. garinii (hosted by birds) was considerably more genetically diverse than B. afzelii (hosted by small mammals), as predicted since there are more species of birds than small mammals and birds can import strains from mainland Europe. Higher proportions of samples contained B. garinii and B. valaisiana in the west, while B. afzelii and B. garinii were significantly more associated with mixed/deciduous than with coniferous woodlands. This may relate to the abundance of transmission hosts in different regions and habitats. These data on the genetic heterogeneity within and between Borrelia genospecies are a first step to understand pathogen spread and could help explain the distribution of patient symptoms, which may aid local diagnosis. Understanding the environmental associations of the pathogens is critical for rational policy making for disease risk mitigation and land management.
莱姆病是一种由伯氏疏螺旋体复合群细菌引起的新兴传染病,在欧洲和北美的许多地区,报告的病例都在增加。为了了解疾病风险的驱动因素和症状的分布,这可能有助于减轻疾病和诊断,我们在这里描述了苏格兰伯氏疏螺旋体复合群种的遗传、分布和环境相关性。在苏格兰,自 2000 年以来,报告的莱姆病病例增加了近 10 倍,但伯氏疏螺旋体复合群的分布尚未得到研究。我们利用一项对来自 25 个地点的鸟类、哺乳动物和植被中采集的超过 2200 个硬蜱样本的大型调查,确定了 4 个种:阿费尔森氏菌(48%)、伽氏疏螺旋体(36%)、瓦氏疏螺旋体(8%)和伯氏疏螺旋体(7%),以及一种混合种感染。令人惊讶的是,90%的序列类型是新的,重要的是,多达 14%的样本是种内混合共感染,这表明蜱虫共同取食、取食于多种宿主或宿主中发生多次感染。伽氏疏螺旋体(宿主为鸟类)的遗传多样性明显高于阿费尔森氏菌(宿主为小型哺乳动物),这与预测的情况一致,因为鸟类的种类比小型哺乳动物多,而且鸟类可以从欧洲大陆输入菌株。在西部,含有伯氏疏螺旋体和瓦氏疏螺旋体的样本比例较高,而阿费尔森氏菌和伽氏疏螺旋体与混合/落叶林的相关性明显高于与针叶林。这可能与不同地区和生境中传播宿主的丰度有关。这些关于伯氏疏螺旋体种内和种间遗传异质性的数据是了解病原体传播的第一步,有助于解释患者症状的分布,这可能有助于当地诊断。了解病原体的环境相关性对于疾病风险减轻和土地管理的合理政策制定至关重要。