Telford S R, Dawson J E, Katavolos P, Warner C K, Kolbert C P, Persing D H
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Jun 11;93(12):6209-14. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.12.6209.
A human-derived strain of the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, a recently described emerging rickettsial disease, has been established by serial blood passage in mouse hosts. Larval deer ticks acquired infection by feeding upon such mice and efficiently transmitted the ehrlichiae after molting to nymphs, thereby demonstrating vector competence. The agent was detected by demonstrating Feulgen-positive inclusions in the salivary glands of the experimentally infected ticks and from field-derived adult deer ticks. White-footed mice from a field site infected laboratory-reared ticks with the agent of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, suggesting that these rodents serve as reservoirs for ehrlichiae as well as for Lyme disease spirochetes and the piroplasm that causes human babesiosis. About 10% of host-seeking deer ticks were infected with ehrlichiae, and of these, 20% also contained spirochetes. Cotransmission of diverse pathogens by the aggressively human-biting deer tick may have a unique impact on public health in certain endemic sites.
人粒细胞埃立克体病的病原体是一种最近被描述的新兴立克次氏体病，通过在小鼠宿主中连续传代血液已建立起一种源自人类的菌株。幼鹿蜱通过吸食此类小鼠而获得感染，并在蜕皮为若虫后有效地传播埃立克体，从而证明了其作为传播媒介的能力。通过在实验感染蜱的唾液腺以及野外采集的成年鹿蜱中发现福尔根阳性包涵体来检测病原体。来自野外地点的白足鼠使实验室饲养的蜱感染了人粒细胞埃立克体病的病原体，这表明这些啮齿动物既是埃立克体的宿主，也是莱姆病螺旋体和导致人类巴贝斯虫病的梨形虫的宿主。约10% 的寻找宿主的鹿蜱感染了埃立克体，其中20% 还含有螺旋体。这种积极叮咬人类的鹿蜱对多种病原体的共传播可能会在某些流行地区对公众健康产生独特影响。
