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Tracking of Borrelia afzelii Transmission from Infected Ixodes ricinus Nymphs to Mice
- Source :
- Infection and Immunity
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- American Society for Microbiology, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Quantitative and microscopic tracking of Borrelia afzelii transmission from infected Ixodes ricinus nymphs has shown a transmission cycle different from that of Borrelia burgdorferi and Ixodes scapularis. Borrelia afzelii organisms are abundant in the guts of unfed I. ricinus nymphs, and their numbers continuously decrease during feeding.<br />Quantitative and microscopic tracking of Borrelia afzelii transmission from infected Ixodes ricinus nymphs has shown a transmission cycle different from that of Borrelia burgdorferi and Ixodes scapularis. Borrelia afzelii organisms are abundant in the guts of unfed I. ricinus nymphs, and their numbers continuously decrease during feeding. Borrelia afzelii spirochetes are present in murine skin within 1 day of tick attachment. In contrast, spirochetes were not detectable in salivary glands at any stage of tick feeding. Further experiments demonstrated that tick saliva is not essential for B. afzelii infectivity, the most important requirement for successful host colonization being a change in expression of outer surface proteins that occurs in the tick gut during feeding. Spirochetes in vertebrate mode are then able to survive within the host even in the absence of tick saliva. Taken together, our data suggest that the tick gut is the decisive organ that determines the competence of I. ricinus to vector B. afzelii. We discuss possible transmission mechanisms of B. afzelii spirochetes that should be further tested in order to design effective preventive and therapeutic strategies against Lyme disease.
- Subjects :
- Nymph
0301 basic medicine
Ixodes ricinus
animal diseases
030106 microbiology
Immunology
Tick
Borrelia afzelii
medicine.disease_cause
Microbiology
Mice
03 medical and health sciences
Lyme disease
Borrelia burgdorferi Group
Borrelia
parasitic diseases
medicine
Animals
Humans
Borrelia burgdorferi
Lyme Disease
Mice, Inbred C3H
Ixodes
biology
fungi
Ricinus
transmission
Bacterial Infections
bacterial infections and mycoses
medicine.disease
biology.organism_classification
3. Good health
030104 developmental biology
Infectious Diseases
Ixodes scapularis
tick-borne pathogens
Arachnid Vectors
Female
Parasitology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10985522 and 00199567
- Volume :
- 87
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Infection and Immunity
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....aaaf48a24987a17d9692ce9e58e43700