Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.
Research Institute of Medical Science, College of Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.
Trop Biomed. 2024 Jun 1;41(2):176-182. doi: 10.47665/tb.41.2.007.
The prevalence of tick-borne pathogens (TBP), Orientia tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia and Borrelia spp. in wild small animals, namely wild rodents, is now widely investigated. This study is to present the prevalence and distribution of O. tsutsugamushi, Rickettsia and Borrelia spp. in wild small animals and ticks collected from Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, Republic of Korea (ROK) in 2014. A total of 131 wild small animals, rodents and shrews, and 2,954 ticks were collected from Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces from May to November 2014. The wild small animals (KR1-9) and ticks (K1-17) were grouped in accordance with capture dates and locations. Among the wild small animals, a total of 393 tissues and blood samples were extracted from six selected small animal series (KR1-3, KR6-8). Also, each date and location-grouped ticks were identified for its species and pooled according to the stage of development. Molecular identification for Rickettsia, Orientia, and Borrelia species was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To detect TBPs among wild small animals and ticks, primer sets targeting the 56 kDa protein encoding gene of Orientia spp., outer membrane protein B gene (OmpB) of Rickettsia spp., and 5S-23S intergenic spacer region (IGS) gene of Borrelia spp. were used. Of the 393 wild small animals' blood and tissue samples, 199 (50.6%) were positive for Orientia spp., 158 (40.2%) were positive for Borrelia spp., and 55 (14.0%) were positive for Rickettsia spp. Moreover, a total of 14 tick pools (n = 377) was positive for Rickettsia spp. (n=128, 34.0%) and Borrelia spp. (n=33, 8.8%). High prevalence of Orientia spp. and Rickettsia spp. in rodents and shrews were observed. This study presents significant insights by presenting data collected in 2014 that the prevalence of TBP was already high in mid 2010s. This study highlights the sustainable routine surveillance model for TBP.
在野生小型动物（即野生啮齿动物和鼩鼱）中，蜱传病原体（TBP）、恙虫东方体、立克次体和伯氏疏螺旋体的流行情况已得到广泛研究。本研究旨在介绍 2014 年在韩国京畿道和江原道采集的野生小型动物和蜱中恙虫东方体、立克次体和伯氏疏螺旋体的流行情况和分布情况。2014 年 5 月至 11 月，从京畿道和江原道共采集了 131 只野生小型动物（啮齿动物和鼩鼱）和 2954 只蜱。根据采集日期和地点将野生小型动物（KR1-9）和蜱（K1-17）分组。在野生小型动物中，从六个选定的小型动物系列（KR1-3、KR6-8）中总共提取了 393 份组织和血液样本。此外，根据发育阶段，对每个日期和地点分组的蜱进行了鉴定和混合。使用聚合酶链反应（PCR）对立克次体、东方体和伯氏疏螺旋体进行分子鉴定。为了检测野生小型动物和蜱中的 TBP，使用针对恙虫东方体 56kDa 蛋白编码基因、立克次体外膜蛋白 B 基因（OmpB）和伯氏疏螺旋体 5S-23S 间隔区（IGS）基因的引物对进行检测。在 393 份野生小型动物的血液和组织样本中，199 份（50.6%）为恙虫东方体阳性，158 份（40.2%）为伯氏疏螺旋体阳性，55 份（14.0%）为立克次体阳性。此外，14 个蜱虫群（n=377）中，有 128 个（34.0%）为立克次体阳性，33 个（8.8%）为伯氏疏螺旋体阳性。在啮齿动物和鼩鼱中观察到恙虫东方体和立克次体的高流行率。本研究提供了 2014 年采集的数据，表明 TBP 的流行率在 2010 年代中期已经很高，这具有重要意义。本研究突出了蜱传病原体的可持续常规监测模型。
