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Inefficient co-feeding transmission of Borrelia afzelii in two common European songbirds
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Inefficient co-feeding transmission of Borrelia afzelii in two common European songbirds
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Inefficient co-feeding transmission of Borrelia afzelii in two common European songbirds
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Journal Article
Inefficient co-feeding transmission of Borrelia afzelii in two common European songbirds
2017
Overview
The spirochete bacterium
Borrelia afzelii
is the most common cause of Lyme borreliosis in Europe. This tick-borne pathogen can establish systemic infections in rodents but not in birds. However, several field studies have recovered larval
Ixodes ricinus
ticks infected with
B. afzelii
from songbirds suggesting successful transmission of
B. afzelii
. We reviewed the literature to determine which songbird species were the most frequent carriers of
B. afzelii
-infected
I. ricinus
larvae and nymphs. We tested experimentally whether
B. afzelii
is capable of co-feeding transmission on two common European bird species, the blackbird (
Turdus merula
) and the great tit (
Parus major
). For each bird species, four naïve individuals were infested with
B. afzelii
-infected
I. ricinus
nymphal ticks and pathogen-free larval ticks. None of the co-feeding larvae tested positive for
B. afzelii
in blackbirds, but a low percentage of infected larvae (3.33%) was observed in great tits. Transstadial transmission of
B. afzelii
DNA from the engorged nymphs to the adult ticks was observed in both bird species. However, BSK culture found that these spirochetes were not viable. Our study suggests that co-feeding transmission of
B. afzelii
is not efficient in these two songbird species.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
