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Abstract
To define the role of birds as reservoirs and disseminators of Borrelia spirochetes, we characterized tick infestation and reservoir competence of migratory passerine birds in Sweden. A total of 1,120 immature Ixodes ricinus ticks were removed from 13,260 birds and assayed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Borrelia, followed by DNA sequencing for species and genotype identification. Distributions of ticks on birds were aggregated, presumably because of varying encounters with ticks along migratory routes. Lyme borreliosis spirochetes were detected in 160 (1.4%) ticks. Borrelia garinii was the most common species in PCR-positive samples and included genotypes associated with human infections. Infestation prevalence with infected ticks was 5 times greater among ground-foraging birds than other bird species, but the 2 groups were equally competent in transmitting Borrelia. Migratory passerine birds host epidemiologically important vector ticks and Borrelia species and vary in effectiveness as reservoirs on the basis of their feeding behavior.
Highlights
This was additional evidence that the 2 bird groups were competent in transmitting infection to larvae. This was the first large-scale study to show that migratory passerine birds participate in the enzootic maintenance of Borrelia spirochetes, including species and genotypes associated with Lyme borreliosis (LB) in humans
By combining 2 approaches, quantification of infection in vector ticks and molecular typing, we demonstrate that these birds constitute an epidemiologically important alternative reservoir of LB, as well as a means for wide distribution of the pathogen
This study’s approach of characterizing Borrelia infection of ticks engorged on birds is analogous to xenodiagin this study we could not follow-up and quantify the infection of the nymphs that emerge from infected larvae, a transition that determines the ability of the nymphs to infect other hosts during subsequent feeding [17]
Summary
To define the role of birds as reservoirs and disseminators of Borrelia spirochetes, we characterized tick infestation and reservoir competence of migratory passerine birds in Sweden. Infestation prevalence with infected ticks was 5 times greater among ground-foraging birds than other bird species, but the 2 groups were competent in transmitting Borrelia.
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