Longitudinal study of prevalence and spatio-temporal distribution ofBorrelia burgdorferisensu lato in ticks from three defined habitats in Latvia, 1999-2010

Okeyo, Mercy; Hepner, Sabrina; Rollins, Robert E.; Hartberger, Christina; Straubinger, Reinhard K.; Marosevic, Durdica; Bannister, Stephanie A.; Bormane, Antra; Donaghy, Michael; Sing, Andreas; Fingerle, Volker und Margos, Gabriele (2020): Longitudinal study of prevalence and spatio-temporal distribution ofBorrelia burgdorferisensu lato in ticks from three defined habitats in Latvia, 1999-2010. In: Environmental Microbiology, Bd. 22, Nr. 12: S. 5033-5047

Abstract

Members of theBorrelia burgdorferisensu lato (s.l.) species complex are known to cause human Lyme borreliosis. Because of longevity of some reservoir hosts and theIxodestick vectors' life cycle, long-term studies are required to better understand species and population dynamics of these bacteria in their natural habitats. Ticks were collected between 1999 and 2010 in three ecologically different habitats in Latvia. We used multilocus sequence typing utilizing eight chromosomally located housekeeping genes to obtain information about species and population fluctuations and/or stability ofB. burgdorferis.l. in these habitats. The average prevalence over all years was 18.9%. From initial high-infection prevalences of 25.5%, 33.1% and 31.8%, from 2002 onwards the infection rates steadily decreased to 7.3%.Borrelia afzeliiandBorrelia gariniiwere the most commonly found genospecies but striking local differences were obvious. In one habitat, a significant shift from rodent-associated to bird-associatedBorreliaspecies was noted whilst in the other habitats,Borreliaspecies composition was relatively stable over time. Sequence types (STs) showed a random spatial and temporal distribution. These results demonstrated that there are temporal regional changes and extrapolations from one habitat to the next are not possible.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Tiermedizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 1462-2912
• Sprache: Englisch