Passive Tick Surveillance: Exploring Spatiotemporal Associations of Borrelia burgdorferi (Spirochaetales: Spirochaetaceae), Babesia microti (Piroplasmida: Babesiidae), and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae) Infection in Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae)

• Published in: Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) Vol. 20; no. 3; p. 177
• Main Authors: Little, Eliza A H, Molaei, Goudarz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.03.2020
• Subjects: Anaplasma phagocytophilum - isolation & purification; Animals; Babesia microti - isolation & purification; Borrelia burgdorferi - isolation & purification; Connecticut; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Ixodes - microbiology; Connecticut; Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Borrelia burgdorferi; Ixodes scapularis; passive surveillance; Babesia microti; Connecticut
• ISSN: 1557-7759
• DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2019.2509

transmits a group of pathogens, including , , and , the causative agents for Lyme disease, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis, respectively. ticks submitted by state residents to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station-Tick Testing Laboratory between 2015 and 2018 were screened using standard PCR and pathogen-specific primers. Infection and coinfection prevalence in was estimated to assess differences in infection status by life stage (nymph or adult female), county, and year, as well as whether infection with changes the likelihood of infection with either or . Of the 11,254 acquired in Connecticut, 40.7% tested positive for at least one pathogen and the remaining 59.3% were negative. Most ticks tested positive for a single pathogen (33.6%), and only 7.2% were infected with more than one pathogen, of which 93.2% were identified with dual infection and 6.8% tested positive for all three pathogens. Adults were more likely than nymphs to be infected or coinfected with these pathogens. Furthermore, we found that ticks were 74% more likely to be infected with and 98% more likely to be infected with if infected with compared with those not infected. We did not find spatial differences in infection or coinfection prevalence, but between 2015 and 2018, the likelihood that a tick was coinfected increased with time. These results from Connecticut, an endemic state for Lyme disease with long-established populations of , suggest that the increased likelihood of coinfection prevalence over time may have significant implications for clinical diagnosis, course, severity, and treatment of human disease cases.