Nicholls T H, Callister S M
North Central Forest Experiment Station, USDA-FS, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
J Med Entomol. 1996 May;33(3):379-84. doi: 10.1093/jmedent/33.3.379.
In a tick-spirochete survey conducted from all 1989 through fall 1992 in north-western Wisconsin, 4,256 birds (composed of 91 species) were examined for ticks. Infestations were recorded for 400 birds (composed of 30 species). Of 1,184 ticks taken from 335 birds (composed of 26 species), 60 (5%) Haemaphysalis leporispalustris (Packard) from 8 species of birds were infected with the Lyme disease spirochete. Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner. Similar surveys conducted in 1990 and 1991 in Minnesota and Michigan yielded 223 H. leporispalustris from 61 birds (composed of 23 species), all free of spirochetes. However, 1 B. burgdorferi-infected Ixodes scapularis (Say) was found on 1 bird species in Minnesota. Most ticks were collected in fall from ground-foraging birds such as thrushes and sparrows. These results confirm that tick-infested birds are important in disseminating Lyme disease spirochetes and may also play a role as sources for infecting ticks.
1989年至1992年秋季在威斯康星州西北部进行的一项蜱-螺旋体调查中，对4256只鸟（由91个物种组成）进行了蜱虫检查。记录到400只鸟（由30个物种组成）有蜱虫寄生。从335只鸟（由26个物种组成）身上采集的1184只蜱虫中，有60只（5%）来自8种鸟类的血红扇头蜱（Packard）感染了莱姆病螺旋体，即伯氏疏螺旋体（Johnson、Schmid、Hyde、Steigerwalt和Brenner）。1990年和1991年在明尼苏达州和密歇根州进行的类似调查中，从61只鸟（由23个物种组成）身上采集到223只血红扇头蜱，均未感染螺旋体。然而，在明尼苏达州的1种鸟类身上发现了1只感染伯氏疏螺旋体的肩突硬蜱（Say）。大多数蜱虫是在秋季从画眉和麻雀等地面觅食鸟类身上采集到的。这些结果证实，感染蜱虫的鸟类在传播莱姆病螺旋体方面很重要，并且可能也作为感染蜱虫的来源发挥作用。
