Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto in Amblyomma americanum ticks in the southeastern United States: the case of selective compatibility.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Rudenko N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4893544 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto in Amblyomma americanum ticks in the southeastern United States: the case of selective compatibility.
Rudenko Nataliia N Golovchenko Maryna M Clark Kerry K Oliver James H JH Grubhoffer Libor L
Emerging microbes & infections 20160525
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Project description:The predominant human-biting tick throughout the southeastern United States is Amblyomma americanum. Its ability to transmit pathogens causing Lyme disease-like illnesses is a subject of ongoing controversy. Results of previous testing by the Department of Defense Human Tick Test Kit Program and other laboratories indicated that it is highly unlikely that A. americanum transmits any pathogen that causes Lyme disease. In contrast, a recent publication by Clark and colleagues (K. L. Clark, B. Leydet, and S. Hartman, Int. J. Med. Sci. 10:915-931, 2013) reported detection of Lyme group Borrelia in A. americanum using a nested-flagellin-gene PCR. We evaluated this assay by using it and other assays to test 1,097 A. americanum ticks collected from humans. Using the Clark assay, in most samples we observed nonspecific amplification and nonrepeatability of results on subsequent testing of samples. Lack of reaction specificity and repeatability is consistent with mispriming, likely due to high primer concentrations and low annealing temperatures in this protocol. In six suspect-positive samples, Borrelia lonestari was identified by sequencing of an independent gene region; this is not a Lyme group spirochete and is not considered zoonotic. B. burgdorferi was weakly amplified from one pool using some assays, but not others, and attempts to sequence the amplicon of this pool failed, as did attempts to amplify and sequence B. burgdorferi from the five individual samples comprising this pool. Therefore, B. burgdorferi was not confirmed in any sample. Our results do not support the hypothesis that A. americanum ticks are a vector for Lyme group Borrelia infections.
| S-EPMC4400787 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The ecology of vector-borne diseases in a region can be attributed to vector-host interactions. In the United States, tick-borne pathogens are the cause of the highest number of reported vector-borne diseases. In the mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States, tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, have increased in incidence, with tick-host-pathogen interactions considered a contributing factor to this increase. Ticks become infected with pathogens after taking a blood meal from a systemically infected host or through a localized infection while co-feeding on a host with other infected ticks. The host not only plays a role in pathogen acquisition by the tick, but can also facilitate dispersal of the tick locally within a region or over greater distances into new geographical ranges outside of their historical distributional range. In this study conducted in southeastern Virginia (USA), we examined the interaction between both resident and migratory bird species and Ixodes ticks, the primary vectors of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) the main causative agent of Lyme disease on the East coast of the United States. Over a two-year period (2012-2014), 1879 passerine birds were surveyed, with 255 Ixodes ticks tested for the presence of Borrelia spp. Eighty passerine birds (4.3 %) representing 17 bird species were parasitized by at least one Ixodes tick, but only three bird species were parasitized by Ixodes ticks that tested positive for B. burgdorferi s.s. Twenty Ixodes ticks (7.8 %) tested positive for B. burgdorferi s.s. with nearly all collected from resident bird species including the Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) and brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Given that millions of birds pass through southeastern Virginia during migration, even with the low number of Ixodes ticks parasitizing passerine birds and the low prevalence of B. burgdorferi s.s. found within Ixodes ticks collected, the sheer volume of passerine birds suggests they may play a role in the maintenance and dispersal of B. burgdorferi s.s. in southeastern Virginia.
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Project description:We collected questing Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks from southeastern counties of Pennsylvania, USA. Of 263 ticks tested by PCR for pathogens, 1 adult female was positive for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, yielding a 0.4% infection rate. Continued monitoring of this invasive tick is essential to determine its public health role.
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Project description:Polymerase chain reaction analysis of 204 Amblyomma americanum and 28 A. maculatum ticks collected in August 1999 near the homes of patients with southern tick-associated rash illness and in control areas in Choctaw County, Alabama, showed Borrelia lonestari flagellin gene sequence from two adult A. americanum. The presence of B. lonestari in A. americanum ticks from Alabama suggests that this suspected pathogen may be widespread in the southeastern United States.
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Project description:Different genotypes of the agent of Lyme disease in North America, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, show varying degrees of pathogenicity in humans. This variation in pathogenicity correlates with phylogeny and we have hypothesized that the different phylogenetic lineages in North America reflect adaptation to different host species. In this study, evidence for host species associations of B. burgdorferi genotypes was investigated using 41 B. burgdorferi-positive samples from five mammal species and 50 samples from host-seeking ticks collected during the course of field studies in four regions of Canada: Manitoba, northwestern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. The B. burgdorferi genotypes in the samples were characterized using three established molecular markers (multi-locus sequence typing [MLST], 16S-23S rrs-rrlA intergenic spacer, and outer surface protein C sequence [ospC] major groups). Correspondence analysis and generalized linear mixed effect models revealed significant associations between B. burgdorferi genotypes and host species (in particular chipmunks, and white-footed mice and deer mice), supporting the hypotheses that host adaptation contributes to the phylogenetic structure and possibly the observed variation in pathogenicity in humans.
| S-EPMC4763156 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the United States (US), with approximately 300,000 -to- 40,000 cases reported annually. The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is the primary vector of the Lyme disease-causing spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, in high incidence regions in the upper midwestern and northeastern US. Using county-level records of the presence of I. scapularis or presence of B. burgdorferi s.s. infected host-seeking I. scapularis, we generated habitat suitability consensus maps based on an ensemble of statistical models for both acarological risk metrics. Overall accuracy of these suitability models was high (AUC = 0.76 for I. scapularis and 0.86 for B. burgdorferi s.s. infected-I. scapularis). We sought to compare which acarological risk metric best described the distribution of counties reporting high Lyme disease incidence (≥10 confirmed cases/100,000 population) by setting the models to a fixed omission rate (10%). We compared the percent of high incidence counties correctly classified by the two models. The I. scapularis consensus map correctly classified 53% of high and low incidence counties, while the B. burgdorferi s.s. infected-I. scapularis consensus map classified 83% correctly. Counties classified as suitable by the B. burgdorferi s.s. map showed a 91% overlap with high Lyme disease incidence counties with over a 38-fold difference in Lyme disease incidence between high- and low-suitability counties. A total of 288 counties were classified as highly suitable for B. burgdorferi s.s., but lacked records of infected-I. scapularis and were not classified as high incidence. These counties were considered to represent a leading edge for B. burgdorferi s.s. infection in ticks and humans. They clustered in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. This information can aid in targeting tick surveillance and prevention education efforts in counties where Lyme disease risk may increase in the future.
| S-EPMC10591441 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the northeastern U.S., Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the agent of Lyme disease, is maintained between vertebrate hosts and subadult deer ticks (the northern clade of Ixodes scapularis, formerly known as Ixodes dammini). Theoretical arguments suggest that the force of transmission would be greatest when infected nymphal ticks focus their bites on the same host as the uninfected larvae. Stage-specific differences in host utilization would reduce the force of transmission, but to date such differences remain understudied. We determined the host utilization differences of larval and nymphal deer ticks using bloodmeal analysis of host-seeking nymphs and adults collected from 5 field sites in New England. Matched cohorts of ticks (nymphs=506, adults=451), i.e. ticks that had fed during the same summer season, were used to control for yearly host population variations. Infection status of all ticks was determined by real time PCR. Nymphal deer ticks were more likely to have fed on birds and sciurids (13% vs 3%, and 41% vs 9%, respectively p<0.001) and larvae were more likely to have fed on shrews (26% vs 3%, p<0.001). Similarly, ticks that had fed on a mouse or a shrew as larvae were likely to become infected (OR= 3.195, 95% CI [1.9, 5.1] and OR=2.5[1.6,3.8] respectively), and they were positively associated with infection prevalence at our sites. However, very few nymphs fed on shrews, and they were not associated with infection, raising the question of how uninfected shrews acquire infection each year. Sciurids did not appear to contribute to the enzootic cycle at our sites, which may be due to the low numbers of larvae that fed on them. Sciurid-fed ticks of either stage were not associated with infection. Both stages of ticks were less likely to be infected if they had fed on deer (OR=0.08 [0.02.0.3] and OR=0.4 [0.2,0.7] tested as nymphs and adults, respectively) and thus deer likely served to reduce the force of transmission at our sites. Site-specific analysis of differential host utilization by subadult deer ticks may contribute to appropriate targeting of interventions and thereby promote reducing risk of acquiring Lyme disease and the other deer tick-transmitted infections.
| S-EPMC10578448 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lyme borreliosis (LB) group spirochetes, collectively known as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, are distributed worldwide. Wild rodents are acknowledged as the most important reservoir hosts. Ixodes scapularis is the primary vector of B. burgdorferi sensu lato in the eastern United States, and in the southeastern United States, the larvae and nymphs mostly parasitize certain species of lizards. The primary aim of the present study was to determine whether wild lizards in the southeastern United States are naturally infected with Lyme borreliae. Blood samples obtained from lizards in Florida and South Carolina were tested for the presence of LB spirochetes primarily by using B. burgdorferi sensu lato-specific PCR assays that amplify portions of the flagellin (flaB), outer surface protein A (ospA), and 66-kDa protein (p66) genes. Attempts to isolate spirochetes from a small number of PCR-positive lizards failed. However, PCR amplification and sequence analysis of partial flaB, ospA, and p66 gene fragments confirmed numerous strains of B. burgdorferi sensu lato, including Borrelia andersonii, Borrelia bissettii, and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, in blood from lizards from both states. B. burgdorferi sensu lato DNA was identified in 86 of 160 (54%) lizards representing nine species and six genera. The high infection prevalence and broad distribution of infection among different lizard species at different sites and at different times of the year suggest that LB spirochetes are established in lizards in the southeastern United States.
| S-EPMC1087528 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lyme borreliosis, the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in North America, is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Given the extensive genetic polymorphism of B. burgdorferi, elucidation of the population genetic structure of the bacterium in clinical samples may be relevant for understanding disease pathogenesis and may have applicability for the development of diagnostic tests and vaccine preparations. In this investigation, the genetic polymorphism of the 16S-23S rRNA (rrs-rrlA) intergenic spacer and ospC was investigated at the sequence level in 127 clinical isolates obtained from patients with early Lyme borreliosis evaluated in suburban New York City. Sixteen distinct rrs-rrlA and 16 distinct ospC alleles were identified, representing virtually all of the genotypes previously found in questing Ixodes scapularis nymphs in this region. In addition, a new ospC group was identified in a single patient. The strong linkage observed between the chromosome-located rrs-rrlA and plasmid-borne ospC genes suggests a clonal structure of B. burgdorferi in these isolates, despite evidence of recombination at ospC.
| S-EPMC2519259 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Lyme disease begins at the site of a tick bite, producing a primary infection with spread of the organism to secondary sites occurring early in the course of infection. A major outer surface protein expressed by the spirochete early in infection is outer surface protein C (OspC). In Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, OspC is highly variable. Based on sequence divergence, alleles of ospC can be divided into 21 major groups. To assess whether strain differences defined by ospC group are linked to invasiveness and pathogenicity, we compared the frequency distributions of major ospC groups from ticks, from the primary erythema migrans skin lesion, and from secondary sites, principally from blood and spinal fluid. The frequency distribution of ospC groups from ticks is significantly different from that from primary sites, which in turn is significantly different from that from secondary sites. The major groups A, B, I, and K had higher frequencies in the primary sites than in ticks and were the only groups found in secondary sites. We define three categories of major ospC groups: one that is common in ticks but very rarely if ever causes human disease, a second that causes only local infection at the tick bite site, and a third that causes systemic disease. The finding that all systemic B. burgdorferi sensu stricto infections are associated with four ospC groups has importance in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease.
| S-EPMC116539 | biostudies-literature