Goethert Heidi, O'Callahan Alanna, Johnson Richard, Roden-Reynolds Patrick, Telford Sam
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Grafton, Massachusetts.
Martha's Vineyard Tick-borne Illness Reduction Initiative, West Tisbury, Massachusetts.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2024 Nov 12;112(1):101-110. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.24-0283. Print 2025 Jan 8.
In the northeast United States, subadult deer ticks feeding on white-footed mice are thought to drive the force of transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi), the agent of Lyme disease. However, control measures targeting mice have produced inconsistent results, suggesting that other animals are significant contributors to enzootic transmission. Such contributions have previously been difficult to quantify. We used a retrotransposon-based host blood meal assay to measure the relative contribution of hosts to enzootic B. burgdorferi transmission at two insular sites in Massachusetts. Over 6 years, we identified mice and deer as the most common larval hosts at our Nantucket Island site. Infected nymphal ticks were derived mainly from mice (35%) and shrews (31%), despite shrews having fed only 12% of larvae. Deer were identified in 19% of the infected nymphs, despite their known reservoir incompetence. Shrews were consistently the most important host in our Martha's Vineyard site and were identified as the source of 41% of nymphs overall and 39% of the infected nymphs. Sciurids were variable contributors, feeding from 4% to 42% of the larval ticks each year, and contributed no infected nymphs in 2020 and as many as 83% in 2023. We conclude that host contributions to feeding larval ticks change over time and within sites and that shrews may be more influential than mice at some sites. Shrews, sciurids, and even deer may contribute to B. burgdorferi maintenance. Hosts that apparently feed a minor proportion of ticks can have a major impact on the force of B. burgdorferi transmission.
在美国东北部,以白足鼠为食的亚成年鹿蜱被认为是莱姆病病原体伯氏疏螺旋体(Borrelia burgdorferi,简称B. burgdorferi)传播的驱动力。然而,针对鼠类的控制措施效果不一,这表明其他动物也是动物间传播的重要贡献者。此前,这些贡献难以量化。我们使用基于反转录转座子的宿主血餐检测法,来衡量宿主对马萨诸塞州两个岛屿地点动物间B. burgdorferi传播的相对贡献。在6年多的时间里,我们确定小鼠和鹿是楠塔基特岛地点最常见的幼虫宿主。尽管鼩鼱仅为12%的幼虫提供过血液,但受感染的若蜱主要来源于小鼠(35%)和鼩鼱(31%)。尽管已知鹿不具备储存宿主能力,但在19%的受感染若蜱中发现了鹿的血液。在我们的玛莎葡萄园岛地点,鼩鼱始终是最重要的宿主,被确定为总体上41%的若蜱以及39%的受感染若蜱的来源。松鼠科动物的贡献各不相同,每年为4%至42%的幼虫提供血液,在2020年未产生受感染若蜱,而在2023年高达83%。我们得出结论,宿主对取食幼虫蜱的贡献会随时间和地点而变化,并且在某些地点鼩鼱可能比小鼠更具影响力。鼩鼱、松鼠科动物甚至鹿可能对B. burgdorferi的维持有贡献。那些看似只为一小部分蜱提供血液的宿主,可能对B. burgdorferi的传播力产生重大影响。