scholarly journals Prevalence of pathogens in ticks collected from humans through citizen science in Belgium

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinne Lernout ◽  
Nick De Regge ◽  
Katrien Tersago ◽  
Manoj Fonville ◽  
Vanessa Suin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background In order to evaluate the risk of human exposure to tick-borne pathogens in Belgium, a study on the prevalence of several pathogens was conducted on feeding ticks removed from humans in 2017. Methods Using a citizen science approach based on an existing notification tool for tick bites, a sample of ticks was collected across the country. Collected ticks were screened by PCR for the presence of the following pathogens: Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia spp., Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato), Borrelia miyamotoi, Neoehrlichia mikurensis, Rickettsia helvetica and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Results In total, 1599 ticks were included in the sample. The great majority of ticks belonged to Ixodes ricinus (99%); other tick species were identified as Ixodes hexagonus (0.7%) and Dermacentor reticulatus (0.3%). Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) was detected in 14% of nymphs and adult ticks. Adult ticks (20%) were more likely to be infected than nymphs (12%). The most common genospecies were B. afzelii (52%) and B. garinii (21%). Except for TBEV, the other tick-borne pathogens studied were all detected in the tick sample, although at a lower prevalence: 1.5% for Babesia spp.; 1.8% for A. phagocytophilum; 2.4% for B. miyamotoi; 2.8% for N. mikurensis; and 6.8% for R. helvetica. Rickettsia raoultii, the causative agent of tick-borne lymphadenopathy, was identified for the first time in Belgium, in two out of five D. reticulatus ticks. Co-infections were found in 3.9% of the examined ticks. The most common co-infection was B. burgdorferi (s.l.) + N. mikurensis. Conclusions Although for most of the tick-borne diseases in Belgium, other than Lyme borreliosis, no or few cases of human infection are reported, the pathogens causing these diseases were all (except for TBEV) detected in the tick study sample. Their confirmed presence can help raise awareness among citizens and health professionals in Belgium on possible diseases other than Lyme borreliosis in patients presenting fever or other non-characteristic symptoms after a tick bite.

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Karbowiak ◽  
Beata Biernat ◽  
Joanna Werszko ◽  
Leszek Rychlik

AbstractThere are a number of reports regarding natural infection of Dermacentor reticulatus ticks with TBE virus; however, the transmission mode of TBE virus in this tick population has not been investigated. This study was conducted in Białowieża Primeval Forest, east Poland. Forty fully engorged nymphs of D. reticulatus were sampled from root voles (Microtus oeconomus). Ticks were kept until molting. All ticks were screened for the presence of TBE virus by nested RT-PCR. Three adult ticks were positive for infection with TBE virus. The present study for the first time demonstrates the possibility of transstadial mode of TBEV transmission in D. reticulatus ticks.


Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) was isolated for the first time in Sweden in 1958 (from ticks and from 1 tick-borne encephalitis [TBE] patient).1 In 2003, Haglund and colleagues reported the isolation and antigenic and genetic characterization of 14 TBEV strains from Swedish patients (samples collected 1991–1994).2 The first serum sample, from which TBEV was isolated, was obtained 2–10 days after onset of disease and found to be negative for anti-TBEV immunoglobulin M (IgM) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), whereas TBEV-specific IgM (and TBEV-specific immunoglobulin G/cerebrospinal fluid [IgG/CSF] activity) was demonstrated in later serum samples taken during the second phase of the disease.


Author(s):  
T. V. Kozlova ◽  
T. I. Khomyakova ◽  
V. G. Dedkov ◽  
M. V. Safonova ◽  
L. S. Karan ◽  
...  

The most of ixodes ticks in Tula region belongs to the group of pasture mites. It is generally accepted to estimate the tick’s contamination by the tick-borne encephalitis virus and raoueti inducing Lyme Borellia. The aim of the present work was to educe the aetiologic agents of the set of potentially-enable infections out of ticks Dermacentor reticulatus, Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes сrenulatus collected at the different terrains of Tula Region by PCR method. The results: a considerable number of pathogenic rickettsiae R. raoultii was educes from the ticks D. reticulatus, which including them as the component of mixed infection together with the human monocytic ehrlichiosis agent. R. raoultii was determined in more than a half of the cases in ticks I. ricinus including the mixed infection together with ticks’ borreliosis virus and Kemerovo fever agent. Conclusion. The reasons, induced the quantity changes of the ticks’ distribution at Tula Region terrains, apparently promote the rise in frequency of the ticks contamination with the agents of herd tick-transmissive infection. It demand an infectiologist’s attention rise and dictate the necessity of the above mentioned diseases monitoring as well as Fr. tularensis, the tick-borne encephalitis virus and Lyme disease.


2006 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 144-150
Author(s):  
N. P. Pirogova ◽  
M. R. Karpova ◽  
V. V. Novitsky ◽  
A. P. Zima ◽  
O. V. Voronkova ◽  
...  

The authors of the article are trying to generalize the literary data that characterizing proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines production of peripheral blood immune cells during tick-borne neuroinfections: Lyme borreliosis, associated with tick- borne encephalitis. The immune response development to antigens of a tick-borne encephalitis virus and Borrelia burgdorferi in pa- tients with a mixed-infection essentially differs from those during monoinfections.


2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (8) ◽  
pp. 1906-1916 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Weidmann ◽  
D. Růžek ◽  
K. Křivanec ◽  
G. Zöller ◽  
S. Essbauer ◽  
...  

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is the most important arboviral agent causing disease of the central nervous system in central Europe. In this study, 61 TBEV E gene sequences derived from 48 isolates from the Czech Republic, and four isolates and nine TBEV strains detected in ticks from Germany, covering more than half a century from 1954 to 2009, were sequenced and subjected to phylogenetic and Bayesian phylodynamic analysis to determine the phylogeography of TBEV in central Europe. The general Eurasian continental east-to-west pattern of the spread of TBEV was confirmed at the regional level but is interlaced with spreading that arises because of local geography and anthropogenic influence. This spread is reflected by the disease pattern in the Czech Republic that has been observed since 1991. The overall evolutionary rate was estimated to be approximately 8×10−4 substitutions per nucleotide per year. The analysis of the TBEV E genes of 11 strains isolated at one natural focus in Žďár Kaplice proved for the first time that TBEV is indeed subject to local evolution.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-35
Author(s):  
G. N. Leonova ◽  
E. I. Bondarenko ◽  
A. A. Khvorostyanko ◽  
A. V. Kurlovskaya

The first time was identified by PCR in real time in Ixodes ticks and leukocyte blood fractions of persons tested after a tick bite, the existence of a number of pathogens of tick-borne infections (B. burgdorferi s.l., B. miyamotoi, A. phagocytophilum, E. chaffeensis/E. muris, tick-borne encephalitis virus) on two focal areas adjacent to Vladivostok. The infection of I. persulcatus B. burgdorferi s.l. reached 31%, and for the first time identified B. miyamotoi, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia - 4%. Detection of RNA of TBE virus in 2 cases in epidemiological season in 2014, indicating a low potential epizootological natural focuses of TBE in the southern Far East.


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