Prevalence of Lyme Disease Borrelia spp. in Ticks from Migratory Birds on the Japanese Mainland

Abstract

Borrelia sp. prevalence in ticks on migratory birds was surveyed in central Japan. In autumn, a total of 1,733 birds representing 40 species were examined for ticks. A total of 361 ticks were obtained from 173 birds of 15 species, and these ticks were immature Haemaphysalis flava (94.4%), Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes columnae, Ixodes persulcatus, Ixodes turdus, and an unidentified Ixodes species. Of these, 27 juveniles of H. flava on Turdus pallidus, Turdus cardis, or Emberiza spodocephala, 2 juveniles of I. persulcatus on T. pallidus, and 1 female H. flava molted from a T. pallidus-derived nymph were positive for the presence of Borrelia by Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly culture passages. In spring, a total of 16 ticks obtained from 102 birds of 21 species were negative for the spirochete. Isolates from 15 ticks were characterized by 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis; all isolates were identified as Borrelia garinii with pattern B/B based on the previous patterning. According to the intergenic spacer sequences, 2 of 15 isolates, strains Fi14f and Fi24f, were highly similar to B. garinii strains 935T of Korea and ChY13p of Inner Mongolia, China, respectively. These findings indicate that Lyme disease-causing B. garinii may have been introduced to Japan by migratory birds from northeastern China via Korea. Additionally, a case of transstadial transmission of B. garinii from nymph to adult H. flava suggests that the infected H. flava may transmit Borrelia to large animals.Lyme disease is primarily caused by three genomic species, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia garinii, and Borrelia afzelii (2, 4). B. garinii and B. afzelii are widely distributed from Europe to the Far East including Japan, while B. burgdorferi sensu stricto is prevalent in North America and has been confirmed in part of Europe. B. burgdorferi sensu lato is mainly transmitted by some tick species of the Ixodes ricinus complex, and these ticks infest both mammals and birds (1,9,10,13,19,25).Concerning the prevalence of Borrelia in ticks feeding on birds, B. garinii has been isolated from Ixodes persulcatus on Emberiza spodocephala and Turdus chrysolaus in Hokkaido, Japan (20, 24), and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. garinii, B. afzelii, and Borrelia andersonii have been isolated from Ixodes dentatus, I. ricinus, Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes uriae, and other ticks, which infest a large number of bird species in Europe and North America (6,13,15,27,28,30). Furthermore, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, detected on some bird species, was reported to be a reservoir of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto in North America (13,26).B. afzelii is transmitted between I. persulcatus and field rodents, and B. garinii is transmitted between I. persulcatus and migratory birds or rodents, in Hokkaido, Japan (24, 25). However, there has not been a survey of Borrelia in migratory birds which travel directly between the Asiatic continent and Japan. In this survey, we examined the Borrelia prevalence in juvenile ticks remo...

Prevalence of avian influenza viruses,Borrelia garinii,Mycobacterium avium, andMycobacterium aviumsubsp.paratuberculosisin waterfowl and terrestrial birds in Slovakia, 2006

“…Digestion with restriction enzymes MseI and DraI yielded patterns corresponding to genospecies B. garinii (Figure 1), according to the patterning illustrated by Ishiguro et al (2000). MseI/DraI digestion of DNA from spirochetes harboured by birds captured in this study revealed both B/B?…”

“…The first set of primers was used for PCR detection of Borrelia (Kurtenbach et al, 1998). The PCR products obtained from positive samples with a second set of primers were used in RFLP analyses (Postic et al, 1994;Ishiguro et al, 2000). A total of seven birds (21%) captured at Senianske ponds (eastern Slovakia) were positive for Borrelia (Table 1).…”

“…species have been linked with human disease (neuroborreliosis) acquired from wild birds (Rand et al, 1998;Daszak et al, 2000;Humair, 2002). In most parts of (Postic et al, 1994;Ishiguro et al, 2000;Derdakova et al, 2003;Pejchalova et al, 2007). We located a number of sequences from different species of Borrelia in the GenBank database, and alignments and analyses were carried out using Vector NTI software (Invitrogen).…”

“…All samples testing positive for Borrelia were further characterized by 5S-23S rRNA integric spacer restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Primers and conditions have been described previously by Postic et al (1994) and Ishiguro et al (2000). PCR products were digested with MseI (pattern B or R) and DraI (pattern B?…”

Parasitismo em aves silvestres residentes e migratórias da Ilha da Marambaia, Estado do Rio de Janeiro1

“…No entanto, o papel das aves silvestres como reservatório de Borrelia sp. está amplamente documentado no mundo (Olsen et al 1995, Kurtenbach et al 1998, Ishiguro et al 2000, Poupon et al 2006. No Brasil, mais trabalhos nesse campo deveriam ser realizados.…”