- 著者
- Kyle R. TAYLOR Ai TAKANO Satoru KONNAI Michito SHIMOZURU Hiroki KAWABATA Toshio TSUBOTA
- 出版者
- JAPANESE SOCIETY OF VETERINARY SCIENCE
- 雑誌
- Journal of Veterinary Medical Science (ISSN:09167250)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.75, no.6, pp.785-790, 2013 (Released:2013-07-01)
- 参考文献数
- 22
- 被引用文献数
- 7 7
The ecologies of Lyme disease Borrelia spp. are very specific to location, as they are dependent upon the spirochete species and genotypes, the vectors and the host vertebrates present. In Hokkaido, Japan, where two human pathogenic, Lyme disease Borrelia spp. are present, and human cases are reported annually, the ecologies have been poorly studied. Our goal was to determine whether variation in borrelial infection rates among rodent species sharing an environment, is due to immunological or ecological differences. To this end, we examined the relationships between tick burden and borrelial infection, by including examination of agreement between nested PCR, as a test for infection, and serology, as a test for exposure. We collected 868 rodents, comprised of four species commonly found in Hokkaido, and tested for infection rates with Borrelia spp. using PCR for the borrelial flaB gene, seroprevalence of Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii using ELISA, and attachment of ticks by direct counts. We noted a correlation between differential nymph and larval burdens and the borrelial infection rates found among the four rodent species. Furthermore, there was significant correlation between infection and seroprevalence of B. afzelii and B. garinii (PIxodes persulcatus nymph burden (PI. persulcatus nymph burden (PBorrelia spp. may largely be a direct consequence of differential exposure to vectors.