Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Calea Mănăştur, No. 3-5, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Epidemiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Calea Mănăştur, No. 3-5, 400372, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Parasit Vectors. 2019 Sep 24;12(1):461. doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3713-3.
Small mammals play an important role in the life-cycle of ticks and are reservoirs for several zoonotic pathogens. The aim of this study was to provide epidemiological data regarding the presence of Borrelia spp. in tissues of small mammals from Romania.
We examined 401 individuals belonging to 11 small mammal species collected in Romania. Collections cover the largest effort to survey these reservoirs in the country. Tissue samples were analyzed by multiplex qPCR targeting the ospA gene of Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) and a part of the flaB gene of B. miyamotoi. Positive samples were further analysed by conventional PCR and sequenced.
The overall prevalence of infection with Borrelia spp. in small mammal tissues was 4.9%. The most commonly detected species were B. afzelii, followed by B. garinii/B. bavariensis, B. miyamotoi and B. burgdorferi (s.s.). To our knowledge, we report for the first time the detection of Borrelia spp. in Crocidura leucodon and C. suaveolens, and B. miyamotoi in the liver of Myodes glareolus.
To our knowledge, our study evaluates for the first time the occurrence of Borrelia spp. in small mammals in Romania, contributing to a better knowledge of the distribution of these bacteria. This survey upgrades previous data on the spatial distribution of the pathogens and reveals the importance of animal surveillance regarding Lyme borreliosis and relapsing fever caused by B. miyamotoi.
小型哺乳动物在蜱的生命周期中起着重要作用，是几种人畜共患病病原体的宿主。本研究旨在提供罗马尼亚小型哺乳动物组织中存在伯氏疏螺旋体（Borrelia spp.）的流行病学数据。
我们检查了 401 只来自罗马尼亚的 11 种小型哺乳动物个体。这些采集样本覆盖了该国对这些宿主进行最大规模的调查。使用针对 Borrelia burgdorferi（s.l.）的 ospA 基因和 B. miyamotoi 的 flaB 基因部分的多重 qPCR 分析组织样本。对阳性样本进行进一步的常规 PCR 分析和测序。
小型哺乳动物组织中感染伯氏疏螺旋体的总体流行率为 4.9%。最常见的检测到的物种是 B. afzelii，其次是 B. garinii/B. bavariensis、B. miyamotoi 和 B. burgdorferi（s.s.）。据我们所知，我们首次报告了在 Crocidura leucodon 和 C. suaveolens 中检测到伯氏疏螺旋体，以及在 Myodes glareolus 的肝脏中检测到 B. miyamotoi。
据我们所知，我们的研究首次评估了罗马尼亚小型哺乳动物中伯氏疏螺旋体的发生情况，有助于更好地了解这些细菌的分布情况。该调查更新了先前关于病原体空间分布的数据，并揭示了动物监测对于莱姆病和由 B. miyamotoi 引起的回归热的重要性。
