Blood-Meal Analysis for the Identification of Reservoir Hosts of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Ireland

Pichon, Bruno; Rogers, Mark; Egan, Damian; Gray, Jeremy

doi:10.1089/vbz.2005.5.172

Cited by 78 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…These authors suggested that rodents are not the main source of the spirochaetes in the ticks in an area of Ireland, as most ticks in the site were found to be infected with B. garinii and B. valaisiana, according to data by Kirstein et al (1997) and Pichon et al (2005). Rodent DNA was rarely found in infected ticks suggesting that rodents were not important Borrelia reservoirs at that particular site.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Hosts and Pathogen Detection for Immature Stages of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) in North-Central Spain

et al. 2005

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To determine hosts of the immature stages of a southern population of Ixodes ricinus, we trapped rodents and birds in an area of north-central Spain in May-June and August-September of 1998 and 1999. The most frequently trapped rodents were Apodemus sylvaticus (230 specimens) and Clethrionomys glareolus (99), with a larval infestation prevalence of 49% and 81%, respectively (in spring) and 21% and 41% (in summer). C. glareolus was always more heavily parasitized by larvae (mean numbers 19.8 in spring, 3.4 in summer) than A. sylvaticus (6.1 and 1.2, respectively). No nymphs were collected from the rodents. The larval distribution pattern differed considerably between rodent host species but not according to the season of the year. The most commonly trapped birds were members of the Turdidae, which had infestation incidences of about 70% (larvae) and 10% (nymphs) in spring and 20-15% in summer. We also used molecular methods for the identification of reservoir hosts of the larval ticks and of the pathogens they contained, from nymphs collected in the same site in June of 2002 and 2003. The study showed that most of the ticks had fed on birds and few on rodents and ruminants. Pathogens detected in these ticks included Babesia microti, Borrelia garinii, B. valaisiana and B. afzelii. Borrelia afzelii was detected in a tick that had apparently fed on a wild boar.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Hosts and Pathogen Detection for Immature Stages of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) in North-Central Spain

et al. 2005

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“…However, host-seeking nymphal hard ticks are fl at because their last blood meals were months earlier. Use of PCR to identify DNA of vertebrate mitochondria in ticks has been reported (5,6), but results lacked full sensitivity (7,8).An alternative approach is to detect residual proteins from the blood meal. Uptake and retention of host immunoglobulin into the hemolymph of different species of ticks have been documented (9), and Venneström and Jensen found vertebrate actin in I. ricinus nymphs weeks after the molt (10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of Residual Blood Proteins in Ticks by Mass Spectrometry Proteomics

Wickramasekara

Bunikis

Wysocki

et al. 2008

Emerg. Infect. Dis.

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Mass spectrometry-based proteomics of individual ticks demonstrated persistence of mammalian host blood components, including α-and β-globin chains, histones, and mitochondrial enzymes, in Ixodes scapularis and Amblyomma americanum ticks for months after molting. Residual host proteins may identify sources of infection for ticks.W ithout transovarial or venereal transmission, a vector-borne pathogen's persistence in nature depends on successful passage between >1 species of vertebrate reservoirs. For Lyme borreliosis in eastern North America, black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) larvae acquire Borrelia burgdorferi from a reservoir host during their fi rst blood meal. Infection persists through subsequent molts, and when a tick feeds for the second time as a nymph it may transmit infection to another competent reservoir or to a human. Reservoir hosts for B. burgdorferi are commonly white-footed mice but also include chipmunks, voles, shrews, and ground-foraging birds.When a tick-borne agent has multiple reservoir hosts, assigning relative contributions of each species to maintenance of the pathogen in the environment may be diffi cult. One approach is to capture animals, sample blood or tissue for evidence of infection, and examine embedded ticks for the microorganism (1,2). However, this approach is laborand resource-intensive, and sample sizes are limited. Greater statistical power could be attained with fewer resources if questing ticks were examined not only for infection but also for the source of the last blood meal because the tick would likely have acquired the infection from that vertebrate. If the tick were engorged, this would be straightforward with the PCR, as demonstrated in mosquitoes (3,4). However, host-seeking nymphal hard ticks are fl at because their last blood meals were months earlier. Use of PCR to identify DNA of vertebrate mitochondria in ticks has been reported (5,6), but results lacked full sensitivity (7,8).An alternative approach is to detect residual proteins from the blood meal. Uptake and retention of host immunoglobulin into the hemolymph of different species of ticks have been documented (9), and Venneström and Jensen found vertebrate actin in I. ricinus nymphs weeks after the molt (10). Given these observations, we hypothesized that suffi cient host proteins remained in fl at ticks for identifi cation of blood meal by using proteins instead of DNA. The StudyWe used mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics, as described by Breci et al. and Koller et al. (11,12). Individual ticks or pools were pulverized after freezing in liquid nitrogen. Total proteins were precipitated in 95% ethanol at -20°C and recovered by centrifugation. Proteins of individual ticks were reduced with 100 mmol/L dithiothreitol, alkylated with 50 mmol/L iodoacetamide, digested with trypsin at a fi nal concentration of 0.01 μg/μL, and fi ltered through a C18 cartridge before being subjected to liquid chromatography (LC) with a 5%-50% acetonitrile gradient in 0.1% formic acid, followed by tandem MS (LC-MS/ MS; L...

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“…Tick burden data was estimated for a vertebrate community in Europe Jaenson 1997, Hofmeester et al 2016) and the US (LoGiudice et al 2003, Brisson et al 2008, Keesing et al 2009). One innovative (but difficult) approach is to use host blood meal analysis to estimate the contribution of the different vertebrate hosts to feeding immature ticks (Pichon et al 2003, Pichon et al 2005, Morán-Cadenas et al 2007, Scott et al 2012). In Switzerland, host blood meal analysis showed that rodents feed about 20% of the larval ticks (Morán-Cadenas et al…”

Section: Rodents As Blood Hosts For Ixodes Ricinusmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology of Lyme borreliosis risk : interactions between lxodes ricinus, rodents and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato

Duijvendijk

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Blood-Meal Analysis for the Identification of Reservoir Hosts of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Ireland

Cited by 78 publications

References 29 publications

Hosts and Pathogen Detection for Immature Stages of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) in North-Central Spain

Hosts and Pathogen Detection for Immature Stages of Ixodes ricinus (Acari: Ixodidae) in North-Central Spain

Identification of Residual Blood Proteins in Ticks by Mass Spectrometry Proteomics

The ecology of Lyme borreliosis risk : interactions between lxodes ricinus, rodents and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato

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