Fabbi M, Sambri V, Marangoni A, Magnino S, Solari Basano F, Cevenini R, Genchi C
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia 'Bruno Ubertini', Pavia, Italia.
Zentralbl Veterinarmed B. 1995 Oct;42(8):503-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0450.1995.tb00741.x.
In order to clarify the supposed involvement of urban pigeons (Columba livia livia) in the epidemiology of Lyme disease, the presence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia anserina in pigeons' sera, collected in 12 areas of northern and central Italy, was evaluated. This evaluation was carried out using a classic immunofluorescence assay (IFA), a surface immunofluorescence assay (SIFA) and a standard Western Blot (WB) assay. A total of 104 out of 3,186 (3.26%) serum samples were positive for both spirochetes when tested by IFA, with titres ranging from 1/40 to 1/1280. All positive specimens showed the same or a higher reactivity against B. anserina than against B. burgdorferi. Of the IFA positive samples, 30 were tested by WB and SIFA to evaluate further the specificity of the antibody response, i.e. to try to clarify against which spirochete the antibodies were raised. The presence of antibodies against the 23 kDa protein exclusive to B. anserina, and against epitopes which are not surface-exposed and which are common to B. anserina and B. burgdorferi, was assessed by WB and SIFA. No serological evidence that B. burgdorferi can infect pigeons was found.
为了阐明城市家鸽（Columba livia livia）在莱姆病流行病学中可能的作用，对在意大利北部和中部12个地区采集的家鸽血清中抗伯氏疏螺旋体和抗鹅疏螺旋体抗体的存在情况进行了评估。该评估采用经典免疫荧光法（IFA）、表面免疫荧光法（SIFA）和标准蛋白质印迹法（WB）进行。通过IFA检测，3186份血清样本中有104份（3.26%）对两种螺旋体均呈阳性，滴度范围为1/40至1/1280。所有阳性标本对鹅疏螺旋体的反应性与对伯氏疏螺旋体的反应性相同或更高。对IFA阳性样本中的30份进行了WB和SIFA检测，以进一步评估抗体反应的特异性，即试图阐明产生抗体的是哪种螺旋体。通过WB和SIFA评估了针对鹅疏螺旋体特有的23 kDa蛋白以及针对鹅疏螺旋体和伯氏疏螺旋体共有的非表面暴露表位的抗体的存在情况。未发现伯氏疏螺旋体可感染家鸽的血清学证据。
