Abstract
Understanding the variation in Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infection rates in Ixodes ricinus ticks is important for assessing the potential for Lyme borreliosis transmission. This study aimed to investigate infection rates of B. burgdorferi s.l. bacteria in I. ricinus across 24 field sites in England and Wales, focussing on protected recreational areas in National Parks (NPs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), to provide comparable data across multiple years to assess spatio-temporal changes in B. burgdorferi s.l. infection. Working with park rangers, questing ticks were collected each spring from 2014 to 2019. A subset of ticks, 4104 nymphs, were analysed using a pan-Borrelia qPCR assay, as well as a Borrelia miyamotoi-specific qPCR, and sequenced to determine Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. genospecies. Site-specific B. burgdorferi s.l. infection rates in I. ricinus nymphs varied from 0% to 24%, with overall infection rates ranging from 2.5% to 5.1% across the years. Genospecies composition of sequenced samples was 62.5% B. garinii, 20.3% B. valaisiana and 17.2% B. afzelii. Borrelia miyamotoi was detected in 0.2% of ticks. This study increases our knowledge on B. burgdorferi s.l. infection in areas used by the public for outdoor activity across England and Wales, highlighting the spatial and temporal variability which can impact the changing risk to humans from infected tick bites.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 352-360 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Medical and Veterinary Entomology |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 7 Jan 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 7 Jan 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would like to thank all the park rangers and wardens from the National Park Authorities, AONB partnerships and Forestry England who volunteered to carry out tick surveys for this project, as well as Andrew Tanentzap, Andrew Balmford, Cicely Marshall and students at the University of Cambridge who collected tick samples from Surrey Hills AONB. We thank Zac Newham (formerly PHE), Matt Catton (PHE) and Matthias Alfredsson (Icelandic Institute of Natural History) for field assistance. Thanks to Daniel Carter (PHE) for assistance with the pan‐ assay and sequencing, and Daniel Bailey (PHE) for assistance setting up the assay. Some of the authors (JMM, KMH, ELG) were partly funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) in Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in partnership with Public Health England (PHE), and in collaboration with the University of Exeter, University College London, and the Met Office; and JMM was partly funded by the NIHR HPRU in Emerging Infections and Zoonoses at the University of Liverpool in partnership with PHE and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, the NIHR, the Department of Health or PHE. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Borrelia B. miyamotoi
Keywords
- Borrelia
- Ixodes
- Lyme
- Tick
- UK
- RODENTS
- PREVALENCE
- MIYAMOTOI
- LYME BORRELIOSIS
- SENSU-LATO
- TICKS
- SITES
- PATHOGENS