The importance of lizards and small mammals as reservoirs for B orrelia lusitaniae in P ortugal
Summary B orrelia lusitaniae is a pathogen frequent in the M editerranean area. Apart from lizards, evidence for birds and small mammals as competent reservoirs for this genospecies has been occasional. We collected questing ticks, skin biopsies and I xodes sp. ticks feeding on lizards, birds and sm...
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Published in | Environmental microbiology reports Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 188 - 193 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
01.04.2015
|
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Summary
B
orrelia lusitaniae
is a pathogen frequent in the
M
editerranean area. Apart from lizards, evidence for birds and small mammals as competent reservoirs for this genospecies has been occasional. We collected questing ticks, skin biopsies and
I
xodes
sp. ticks feeding on lizards, birds and small mammals in a
B
. burgdorferi
s.l. (sensu lato) enzootic area to assess their importance in the maintenance of
B
. lusitaniae
.
B
orrelia lusitaniae
was the most prevalent genospecies in questing ticks and was commonly found in larvae feeding on
P
sammodromus algirus
. One biopsy infected with
B
. lusitaniae
was collected from the tail of one
P
odarcis hispanica
, which suggests systemic infection.
I
xodes ricinus
larvae feeding on
A
podemus sylvaticus
were infected with
B
. lusitaniae
but with a lower prevalence. Our results reinforce the importance of lizards as reservoirs for
B
. lusitaniae
, suggesting that
P
. algirus,
in particular, acts as main reservoir for
B
. lusitaniae
in
P
ortugal. |
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ISSN: | 1758-2229 1758-2229 |
DOI: | 10.1111/1758-2229.12218 |