Cull B, Hansford K M, McGinley L, Gillingham E L, Vaux A G C, Smith R, Medlock J M
Medical Entomology & Zoonoses Ecology, Emergency Response Department Science & Technology, Public Health England, Porton Down, U.K.
Health Protection Research Unit in Environmental Change and Health, Public Health England, Porton Down, U.K.
Med Vet Entomol. 2021 Sep;35(3):352-360. doi: 10.1111/mve.12503. Epub 2021 Jan 7.
Understanding the variation in Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infection rates in Ixodes ricinus ticks is important for assessing the potential for Lyme borreliosis transmission. This study aimed to investigate infection rates of B. burgdorferi s.l. bacteria in I. ricinus across 24 field sites in England and Wales, focussing on protected recreational areas in National Parks (NPs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), to provide comparable data across multiple years to assess spatio-temporal changes in B. burgdorferi s.l. infection. Working with park rangers, questing ticks were collected each spring from 2014 to 2019. A subset of ticks, 4104 nymphs, were analysed using a pan-Borrelia qPCR assay, as well as a Borrelia miyamotoi-specific qPCR, and sequenced to determine Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. genospecies. Site-specific B. burgdorferi s.l. infection rates in I. ricinus nymphs varied from 0% to 24%, with overall infection rates ranging from 2.5% to 5.1% across the years. Genospecies composition of sequenced samples was 62.5% B. garinii, 20.3% B. valaisiana and 17.2% B. afzelii. Borrelia miyamotoi was detected in 0.2% of ticks. This study increases our knowledge on B. burgdorferi s.l.. infection in areas used by the public for outdoor activity across England and Wales, highlighting the spatial and temporal variability which can impact the changing risk to humans from infected tick bites.
了解蓖麻硬蜱中伯氏疏螺旋体复合群的感染率变化对于评估莱姆病螺旋体病的传播潜力至关重要。本研究旨在调查英格兰和威尔士24个野外地点的蓖麻硬蜱中伯氏疏螺旋体复合群细菌的感染率，重点关注国家公园（NPs）和自然风景优美地区（AONBs）的受保护休闲区域，以提供多年的可比数据，评估伯氏疏螺旋体复合群感染的时空变化。从2014年到2019年，每年春天与公园护林员合作收集正在 questing 的蜱。使用泛伯氏疏螺旋体qPCR检测法以及针对伯氏米亚罗疏螺旋体的特异性qPCR对4104只若蜱的一个子集进行分析，并进行测序以确定伯氏疏螺旋体复合群的基因型。蓖麻硬蜱若蜱中特定地点的伯氏疏螺旋体复合群感染率在０％至24％之间，多年来总体感染率在2.5％至5.1％之间。测序样本的基因型组成是62.5％的伽氏疏螺旋体、20.3％的瓦氏疏螺旋体和17.2％的阿氏疏螺旋体。在0.2％的蜱中检测到伯氏米亚罗疏螺旋体。本研究增加了我们对英格兰和威尔士公众用于户外活动的地区伯氏疏螺旋体复合群感染的了解，突出了可能影响人类因被感染蜱叮咬而面临的不断变化风险的空间和时间变异性。
