Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
Tyson Research Center, Washington University in St. Louis, USA.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2023 Jan;14(1):102080. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2022.102080. Epub 2022 Nov 9.
Heartland and Bourbon viruses are pathogenic tick-borne viruses putatively transmitted by Amblyomma americanum, an abundant tick species in Missouri. To assess the prevalence of these viruses in ticks, we collected 2778 ticks from eight sampling sites at Tyson Research Center, an environmental field station within St. Louis County and close to the City of St. Louis, from May - July in 2019 and 2021. Ticks were pooled according to life stage and sex, grouped by year and sampling site to create 355 pools and screened by RT-qPCR for Bourbon and Heartland viruses. Overall, 14 (3.9%) and 27 (7.6%) of the pools were positive for Bourbon virus and Heartland virus respectively. In 2019, 11 and 23 pools were positive for Bourbon and Heartland viruses respectively. These positives pools were of males, females and nymphs. In 2021, there were 4 virus positive pools out of which 3 were positive for both viruses and were comprised of females and nymphs. Five out of the 8 sampling sites were positive for at least one virus. This included a site that was positive for both viruses in both years. Detection of these viruses in an area close to a relatively large metropolis presents a greater public health threat than previously thought.
心兰德病毒和波本病毒是两种致病性蜱传病毒，推测由在密苏里州大量存在的美洲钝眼蜱传播。为评估这些病毒在蜱中的流行情况，我们于 2019 年和 2021 年 5 月至 7 月期间，从圣路易斯县泰森研究中心（一个位于圣路易斯市附近的环境野外站）的 8 个采样点采集了 2778 只蜱。根据生活阶段和性别对蜱进行分组，按年份和采样点进行分组，共创建 355 个群组，并通过 RT-qPCR 对波本病毒和心兰德病毒进行筛查。总体而言，分别有 14（3.9%）和 27（7.6%）个群组对波本病毒和心兰德病毒呈阳性。2019 年，分别有 11 和 23 个群组对波本病毒和心兰德病毒呈阳性。这些阳性群组包括雄性、雌性和若虫。2021 年，有 4 个病毒阳性群组，其中 3 个同时对两种病毒呈阳性，由雌性和若虫组成。8 个采样点中有 5 个至少有一种病毒呈阳性。其中包括一个在两年中均对两种病毒呈阳性的采样点。在靠近一个相对较大的大都市的地区检测到这些病毒，比之前认为的对公共健康的威胁更大。
