Fang Li-Zhu, Lei Si-Cong, Yan Zhi-Jian, Xiao Xiao, Liu Jian-Wei, Gong Xiao-Qing, Yu Hao, Yu Xue-Jie
State Key Laboratory of Virology, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.
The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China.
Pathogens. 2021 Jan 23;10(2):115. doi: 10.3390/pathogens10020115.
Tickborne intracellular bacterial pathogens including , , and cause emerging infectious diseases worldwide. PCR was used to amplify the genes of these pathogens in ticks collected from hedgehogs in Central China. Among 125 samples including 20 egg batches, 24 engorged females, and 81 molted male and female adult ticks, the DNA sequences and phylogenetic analysis showed that the minimum infection rate of the ticks was 4% (5/125) for , 3.2% (4/125) for , 9.6%, (12/125) for , and 5.6% for including (3.2%, 4/125) and (2.4%, 3/125), respectively. The prevalence of these pathogens was significantly higher in dead engorged females (83.3%, 20/24) than in eggs (5%, 1/20) and molted ticks (8.6%, 7/81). Our study indicated that ticks could be infected with multiple species of tickborne pathogens including , , , and in Central China, and the prevalence of these pathogens was reduced during transovarial and transstadial transmission in ticks, suggesting that ticks may not be real reservoirs but only vectors for these tickborne pathogens.
包括[具体病原体1]、[具体病原体2]和[具体病原体3]在内的蜱传细胞内细菌病原体在全球范围内引发新发传染病。在中国中部地区采集的刺猬蜱中，采用聚合酶链反应（PCR）扩增这些病原体的基因。在125个样本中，包括20批卵、24只饱血雌蜱以及81只蜕化的雌雄成蜱，DNA序列和系统发育分析表明，蜱的最低感染率为：[具体病原体1]为4%（5/125），[具体病原体2]为3.2%（4/125），[具体病原体3]为9.6%（12/125），[病原体4]为5.6%，其中包括[具体病原体5]（3.2%，4/125）和[具体病原体6]（2.4%，3/125）。这些病原体在死亡的饱血雌蜱中的感染率（83.3%，20/24）显著高于卵（5%，1/20）和蜕化蜱（8.6%，7/81）。我们的研究表明，在中国中部地区，蜱可能感染多种蜱传病原体，包括[具体病原体1]、[具体病原体2]、[具体病原体3]和[病原体4]，并且这些病原体在蜱的经卵和经变态传播过程中感染率降低，这表明蜱可能并非这些蜱传病原体的真正宿主，而仅是传播媒介。
