Abstract
Ticks were collected from the vegetation in the Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and eastern Poland and analyzed for the presence of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) by amplification of the partial E and NS3 genes. In Estonia we found statistically significant differences in the TBEV prevalence between I. persulcatus and I. ricinus ticks (4.23% and 0.42%, respectively). In Latvia, the difference in TBEV prevalence between the two species was not statistically significant (1.02% for I. persulcatus and 1.51% for I. ricinus, respectively). In Lithuania and Poland TBEV was detected in 0.24% and 0.11% of I. ricinus ticks, respectively. Genetic characterization of the partial E and NS3 sequences demonstrated that the TBEV strains belonged to the European subtype in all countries, as well as to the Siberian subtype in Estonia. We also found that in areas where ranges of two tick species overlap, the TBEV subtypes may be detected not only in their natural vector, but also in sympatric tick species.
Highlights
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important human infections of the central nervous system
I. ricinus ticks were collected throughout the territory of Estonia, whereas I. persulcatus ticks were found only in the eastern and south-eastern parts (Laeva, Jarvselja, Oonurme and Kilingi-Nomme)
In the eastern areas of Estonia and Latvia, the range of I. ricinus overlaps with I. persulcatus, and the present study showed that I. persulcatus ticks more frequently infected by tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) (4.23% in Estonia and 1.74% in Latvia) than I. ricinus ticks (0.46% in Estonia and 1.02% in Latvia)
Summary
Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is one of the most important human infections of the central nervous system. The TBE virus causes potentially fatal central nervous system infections, with thousands of cases reported annually throughout central and Eastern Europe and Russia. During 1990–2009 an average of about 8500 human cases were registered per year, of which 2800 per year in Europe [1]. The Baltic countries are considered a TBE endemic area with one of the highest incidence rates in the Europe. The causative agent of the disease is tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), belonging to the genus Flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae. The TBEV is enveloped virus with a single positive-stranded RNA molecule of approximately 11 kb, containing one open reading frame (ORF), which encodes 10 proteins [2]
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