Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences.
The incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in a region may reflect the prevalence of Borrelia in the tick population. Our aim was to investigate if regions with different LB incidences can be distinguished by studying the prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species in their respective tick populations....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3836827?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819096158976344064 |
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| author | Peter Wilhelmsson Pontus Lindblom Linda Fryland Jan Ernerudh Pia Forsberg Per-Eric Lindgren |
| author_facet | Peter Wilhelmsson Pontus Lindblom Linda Fryland Jan Ernerudh Pia Forsberg Per-Eric Lindgren |
| author_sort | Peter Wilhelmsson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in a region may reflect the prevalence of Borrelia in the tick population. Our aim was to investigate if regions with different LB incidences can be distinguished by studying the prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species in their respective tick populations. The Borrelia load in a feeding tick increases with the duration of feeding, which may facilitate a transmission of Borrelia Spirochetes from tick to host. Therefore, we also wanted to investigate how the Borrelia load in ticks that have fed on humans varies with the duration of tick feeding. During 2008 and 2009, ticks that had bitten humans were collected from four regions of Sweden and Finland, regions with expected differences in LB incidence. The duration of tick feeding was estimated and Borrelia were detected and quantified by a quantitative PCR assay followed by species determination. Out of the 2,154 Ixodes ricinus ticks analyzed, 26% were infected with Borrelia and seven species were identified. B. spielmanii was detected for the first time in the regions. The tick populations collected from the four regions exhibited only minor differences in both prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species, indicating that these variables alone cannot explain the regions' different LB incidences. The number of Borrelia cells in the infected ticks ranged from fewer than ten to more than a million. We also found a lower number of Borrelia cells in adult female ticks that had fed for more than 36 hours, compared to the number of Borrelia cells found in adult female ticks that had fed for less than 36 hours. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T23:54:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bad91bbc3d8b436bb45a957cc0d8aa41 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T23:54:45Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-bad91bbc3d8b436bb45a957cc0d8aa412022-12-21T18:45:51ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-01811e8143310.1371/journal.pone.0081433Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences.Peter WilhelmssonPontus LindblomLinda FrylandJan ErnerudhPia ForsbergPer-Eric LindgrenThe incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in a region may reflect the prevalence of Borrelia in the tick population. Our aim was to investigate if regions with different LB incidences can be distinguished by studying the prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species in their respective tick populations. The Borrelia load in a feeding tick increases with the duration of feeding, which may facilitate a transmission of Borrelia Spirochetes from tick to host. Therefore, we also wanted to investigate how the Borrelia load in ticks that have fed on humans varies with the duration of tick feeding. During 2008 and 2009, ticks that had bitten humans were collected from four regions of Sweden and Finland, regions with expected differences in LB incidence. The duration of tick feeding was estimated and Borrelia were detected and quantified by a quantitative PCR assay followed by species determination. Out of the 2,154 Ixodes ricinus ticks analyzed, 26% were infected with Borrelia and seven species were identified. B. spielmanii was detected for the first time in the regions. The tick populations collected from the four regions exhibited only minor differences in both prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species, indicating that these variables alone cannot explain the regions' different LB incidences. The number of Borrelia cells in the infected ticks ranged from fewer than ten to more than a million. We also found a lower number of Borrelia cells in adult female ticks that had fed for more than 36 hours, compared to the number of Borrelia cells found in adult female ticks that had fed for less than 36 hours.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3836827?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Peter Wilhelmsson Pontus Lindblom Linda Fryland Jan Ernerudh Pia Forsberg Per-Eric Lindgren Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. PLoS ONE |
| title | Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. |
| title_full | Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. |
| title_fullStr | Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. |
| title_short | Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Åland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences. |
| title_sort | prevalence diversity and load of borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of sweden and aland islands finland with different lyme borreliosis incidences |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3836827?pdf=render |
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