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Co‐infections and transmission dynamics in a tick‐borne bacterium community exposed to songbirds
Author(s) -
Heylen Dieter,
Fonville Manoj,
Leeuwen Arieke Docters,
Sprong Hein
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.13164
Subject(s) - biology , transmission (telecommunications) , tick , borrelia afzelii , nymph , ixodes ricinus , tick borne disease , zoology , borrelia , virology , immunology , borrelia burgdorferi , antibody , electrical engineering , engineering
Summary We investigated the transmission dynamics of a community of tick‐borne pathogenic bacteria in a common E uropean songbird ( P arus major ). Tick‐naïve birds were infested with three successive batches (spaced 5 days apart) of field‐collected I xodes ricinus nymphs, carrying the following tick‐borne bacteria: R ickettsia helvetica (16.9%), B orrelia garinii (1.9%), B orrelia miyamotoi (1.6%), A naplasma phagocytophilum (1.2%) and C andidatus N eoehrlichia mikurensis (0.4%). Fed ticks were screened for the pathogens after moulting to the next developmental phase. We found evidence for early transmission (within 2.75 days after exposure) of R . helvetica and B . garinii , and to a lesser extent of A . phagocytophilum based on the increased infection rates of ticks during the first infestation. The proportion of ticks infected with R . helvetica remained constant over the three infestations. In contrast, the infection rate of B . garinii in the ticks increased over the three infestations, indicating a more gradual development of host tissue infection. No interactions were found among the different bacterium species during transmission. Birds did not transmit or amplify the other bacterial species. We show that individual birds can transmit several pathogenic bacterium species at the same time using different mechanisms, and that the transmission facilitation by birds increases the frequency of co‐infections in ticks.