Centro de Estudos de Vetores e Doenças Infeciosas Dr. Francisco Cambournac, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (CEVDI-INSA), Av. da Liberdade 5, 2965-575, Águas de Moura, Portugal.
Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), P.O. Box 1, Bilthoven, 3720, The Netherlands.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2018 Sep;9(6):1555-1564. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.07.010. Epub 2018 Jul 26.
Tick-borne agents with medical relevance have been recorded in Portugal but little is known about their occurrence in urban outdoor leisure areas. This study aimed to investigate ticks and tick-borne agents in three public parks of Lisbon's metropolitan area. A total of 234 questing ticks belonging to eight species were found in Parque Florestal de Monsanto (PFM). Ixodes ventalloi represented 40% of collections. Mitochondrial genes confirmed Ixodes morphological identification, evidencing the intraspecific variability of I. ricinus and particularly I. frontalis populations. Regarding tick-borne agents, Rickettsia massiliae DNA were found in 21 (9.0%) ticks, Coxiella burnetii in 15 (6.4%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum in five (2.1%), an agent closely related to Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis in two (0.9%), Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae and Rickettsia monacensis each in one (0.4%). Active enzootic cycles were suggested for these agents by the detection of positives in different time periods. Five tick species were founded with C. burnetii, including I. ventalloi which seems to be a new association record. This tick was also the only species found positive for A. phagocytophilum and the Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis-like agent. Two A. phagocytophilum variants were detected in PFM, one of them representing a potentially new ecotype already found in I. ventalloi from another Portuguese area. To the authors´ knowledge, this is also the first report of such a Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis-like microorganism. These data show an interesting diversity of ticks and tick-borne agents with potential public health relevance in PFM, an urban recreational area commonly frequented by humans and their pets.
在葡萄牙，已经记录了具有医学相关性的蜱传病原体，但对其在城市户外休闲区的发生情况知之甚少。本研究旨在调查里斯本大都市区三个公共公园中的蜱虫和蜱传病原体。在 Monsanto 森林公园（PFM）共发现了 234 只属于 8 个物种的游离蜱虫。Ixodes ventalloi 占采集标本的 40%。线粒体基因证实了 Ixodes 的形态学鉴定，表明 I. ricinus 和特别是 I. frontalis 种群的种内变异性。关于蜱传病原体，在 21 只（9.0%）蜱虫中发现了 Rickettsia massiliae DNA，在 15 只（6.4%）蜱虫中发现了 Coxiella burnetii，在 5 只（2.1%）蜱虫中发现了 Anaplasma phagocytophilum，在 2 只（0.9%）蜱虫中发现了一种与候选 Neoehrlichia mikurensis 密切相关的病原体，在 1 只（0.4%）蜱虫中发现了 Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae 和 Rickettsia monacensis。通过在不同时间段检测到阳性结果，提示这些病原体存在活跃的内源性循环。有 5 种蜱虫携带 C. burnetii，包括似乎是新关联记录的 I. ventalloi。这种蜱虫也是唯一被检测出携带 A. phagocytophilum 和候选 Neoehrlichia mikurensis 样病原体的物种。在 PFM 中检测到了两种 A. phagocytophilum 变体，其中一种是在来自葡萄牙另一个地区的 I. ventalloi 中发现的潜在新生态型。据作者所知，这也是首次报道这种候选 Neoehrlichia mikurensis 样微生物。这些数据表明，在 PFM 这个人类及其宠物经常光顾的城市休闲区，存在着具有潜在公共卫生相关性的有趣多样的蜱虫和蜱传病原体。
