Kurtenbach K, Carey D, Hoodless A N, Nuttall P A, Randolph S E
Natural Environment Research Council Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, Oxford, U.K.
J Med Entomol. 1998 Jan;35(1):77-81. doi: 10.1093/jmedent/35.1.77.
Pheasants, Phasianus colchicus L., constitute a major part of the ground-feeding avifauna of England and Wales and are important hosts to immature stages of Ixodes ricinus L., the principal tick vector of Lyme borreliosis spirochetes in Europe. Therefore, their competence as hosts for Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Steigerwalt & Brenner sensu lato was investigated. One group of pheasants was inoculated by needle with 1 x 10(6) cultured B. burgdorferi s.s. organisms, and a 2nd group of birds was infested with I. ricinus nymphs collected from a focus of Lyme borreliosis in southern England. Both bird groups were subjected to xenodiagnoses using uninfected I. ricinus nymphs. All recovered engorged ticks, as well as pheasant skin biopsies, were analyzed by a nested polymerase chain reaction targeting the 5S-23S rRNA genes of B. burgdorferi s.l. Both groups proved to be infective for ticks. The birds that were infected by tick bites proved to be significantly more infective for ticks (23% of the xenodiagnostic ticks positive) than those infected by needle (5%). The results show that pheasants can be infected experimentally with B. burgdorferi s.l., that they can pass the spirochetes to ticks and that their infectivity for ticks may persist as long as 3 mo. We conclude that pheasants are reservoir competent for Lyme borreliosis spirochetes and potentially play an important role in the maintenance of B. burgdorferi s.l. in England and Wales.
雉鸡（Phasianus colchicus L.）是英格兰和威尔士地面觅食鸟类群落的主要组成部分，并且是蓖麻硬蜱（Ixodes ricinus L.）未成熟阶段的重要宿主，蓖麻硬蜱是欧洲莱姆病螺旋体的主要蜱传播媒介。因此，对它们作为狭义伯氏疏螺旋体（Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Steigerwalt & Brenner）宿主的能力进行了研究。一组雉鸡通过针头接种1×10⁶个培养的狭义伯氏疏螺旋体菌，另一组鸟类用从英格兰南部莱姆病疫源地采集的蓖麻硬蜱若虫进行感染。两组鸟类都使用未感染的蓖麻硬蜱若虫进行异种诊断。所有回收的饱血蜱以及雉鸡皮肤活检样本，都通过针对伯氏疏螺旋体广义种5S - 23S rRNA基因的巢式聚合酶链反应进行分析。两组都被证明对蜱具有感染性。被蜱叮咬感染的鸟类对蜱的感染性（异种诊断蜱中23%呈阳性）明显高于通过针头感染的鸟类（5%）。结果表明，雉鸡可通过实验感染广义伯氏疏螺旋体，它们能将螺旋体传播给蜱，并且它们对蜱的感染性可能持续长达3个月。我们得出结论，雉鸡对莱姆病螺旋体具有储存宿主能力，并且可能在英格兰和威尔士广义伯氏疏螺旋体的维持中发挥重要作用。
