1. Geographical distribution and prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi genospecies in questing Ixodes ricinus from Romania: A countrywide study
- Author
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Zsuzsa Kalmár, Adriana Györke, Vasile Cozma, Hortenzia Toriay, Gianluca D’Amico, Attila D. Sándor, Béla Marosi, Viorica Mircean, Daniel I. Mărcuţan, Mirabela Oana Dumitrache, Angela Monica Ionică, Miruna Oltean, Etelka Burkhardt, Călin Mircea Gherman, Cristian Domşa, Ioana Adriana Matei, Anamaria Ioana Paştiu, Andrei Daniel Mihalca, Cristian Magdaş, and Raluca Gavrea
- Subjects
DNA, Bacterial ,Male ,Nymph ,Veterinary medicine ,Ixodes ricinus ,Genotype ,Borrelia afzelii ,medicine.disease_cause ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Microbiology ,Sensu ,Borrelia ,parasitic diseases ,Prevalence ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Borrelia burgdorferi ,DNA Primers ,Lyme Disease ,Geography ,Ixodes ,biology ,Romania ,Infection prevalence ,bacterial infections and mycoses ,biology.organism_classification ,Virology ,Infectious Diseases ,Insect Science ,Arachnid Vectors ,Female ,Parasitology ,Borrelia garinii ,Restriction fragment length polymorphism ,Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ,Environmental Monitoring - Abstract
The paper reports the prevalence and geographical distribution of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) and its genospecies in 12,221 questing Ixodes ricinus ticks collected at 183 locations from all the 41 counties of Romania. The unfed ticks were examined for the presence of B. burgdorferi s.l. by PCR targeting the intergenic spacer 5S-23S. Reverse line blot hybridization (RLB) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis were performed for identification of B. burgdorferi genospecies. The overall prevalence of infection was 1.4%, with an average local prevalence between 0.75% and 18.8%. B. burgdorferi s.l. was found in ticks of 55 of the 183 localities. The overall prevalence B. burgdorferi s.l. in ticks in the infected localities was 3.8%. The total infection prevalence was higher in female ticks than in other developmental stages. Three Borrelia genospecies were detected. The most widely distributed genospecies was B. afzelii, followed by B. garinii and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.). The study is the first countrywide study and the first report of B. burgdorferi s.s. in Romania. The distribution maps show that higher prevalences were recorded in hilly areas, but Lyme borreliosis spirochetes were also present in forested lowlands, albeit with a lower prevalence.
- Published
- 2013
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