Aghayan Sargis A, Grigoryan Gohar, Gevorgyan Hasmik, Harutyunyan Tehmine, Rukhkyan Martin, Muradyan Vahagn, Karadjian Gregory, Marsot Maud, Moutailler Sara, Pollet Thomas
Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
Chair of Zoology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.
Iran J Public Health. 2024 Nov;53(11):2563-2571. doi: 10.18502/ijph.v53i11.16960.
Variations in the distribution and prevalence of pathogens in ticks can have significant consequences for human health. Information on these variables in Transcaucasia is scarce, so the aim of our study was to conduct a large-scale study to detect selected tick-borne infectious agents in Armenia.
Overall, 209 adult ticks were collected from different hosts including 4 samples from human clothes. We tested ticks using high-throughput microfluidic single-cell real-time PCR to detect 42 genospecies of pathogens. We used GIS to determine biotic and abiotic factors governing the prevalence of pathogens and applied statistical analyses to test the association between prevalence of pathogens depending on hosts, locality and environment.
From 209 samples, 134 were positive to targeted pathogens. Foggie, 1949 was the most prevalent case (44%). The highest overall prevalence was observed in ticks from sheep (74%), followed by cows (67%) and calves (60%). The highest multiple infection rates were also detected in sheep (40%) and calves (40%) followed by cows (28%). One statistically significant association was found among co-infections (<0.05). The prevalence of pathogens varied according to locality. The abundance of spp. is significantly correlated with "slope" and "vegetation" factors. Similar patterns were detected for other pathogens.
This was the first large-scale survey of multiple tick-borne pathogens in Armenia and Transcaucasia. The results of this study shed light on spatial variations in pathogen infection rate among adult ticks found on hosts and underline a number of environmental determinants of pathogen distribution among ticks.
蜱传病原体的分布和流行情况的变化可能对人类健康产生重大影响。外高加索地区关于这些变量的信息匮乏，因此我们研究的目的是在亚美尼亚开展一项大规模研究，以检测特定的蜱传感染因子。
总共从包括4份来自人类衣物的样本在内的不同宿主身上采集了209只成年蜱。我们使用高通量微流控单细胞实时PCR检测蜱，以检测42种病原体基因种。我们使用地理信息系统（GIS）来确定影响病原体流行的生物和非生物因素，并应用统计分析来检验取决于宿主、地点和环境的病原体流行率之间的关联。
在209个样本中，134个对目标病原体呈阳性。1949年的Foggie是最常见的病例（44%）。在来自绵羊的蜱中观察到总体流行率最高（74%），其次是奶牛（67%）和小牛（60%）。在绵羊（40%）和小牛（40%）中也检测到最高的多重感染率，其次是奶牛（28%）。在合并感染中发现了一种具有统计学意义的关联（<0.05）。病原体的流行率因地点而异。 spp.的丰度与“坡度”和“植被”因素显著相关。其他病原体也检测到类似模式。
这是亚美尼亚和外高加索地区首次对多种蜱传病原体进行的大规模调查。这项研究的结果揭示了在宿主身上发现的成年蜱中病原体感染率的空间变化，并强调了蜱中病原体分布的一些环境决定因素。
