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Japanese Babesia microti Cytologically Detected in Salivary Glands of Naturally Infected Tick Ixodes ovatus
Author(s) -
Yano Yasuhiro,
SaitoIto Atsuko,
Anchalee Dantrakool,
Takada Nobuhiro
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2005.tb03680.x
Subject(s) - biology , ixodes , tick , babesia , babesiosis , acari , parasite hosting , salivary gland , ixodes scapularis , protozoa , virology , microbiology and biotechnology , ixodidae , parasitiformes , zoology , biochemistry , world wide web , computer science
Babesia microti protozoa were detected by light and electron microscopy in the salivary glands of field‐collected Ixodes ovatus ticks; 6 of 85 adult ticks were demonstrated to be positive for B. microti DNA by polymerase chain reaction assays. In the salivary glands of unfed ticks, B. microti existed in the sporo‐blast stage in the granular acinus cells, and developed into the sporozoite stage during feeding on the host for 2 days. The present results indicated for the first time that I. ovatus can indeed carry B. microti and is not infected mechanically with the parasites by blood‐sucking. This frequent infection of I. ovatus with B. microti demonstrates the significance of such a vector‐pathogen relationship in Japan, and strongly suggests that I. ovatus is involved in the maintenance of B. microti in the fauna of Japanese rodents.