Moleculaire detectie van teken-gebonden zoönosen in Ixodes hexagonus teken afkomstig van katten in Nederland
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Ticks are vectors of a great diversity of pathogens, which can be of both veterinary \nand human medical interest. Besides the emerging of the number of vector-borne \ndiseases in humans, the frequency of the number of vector-borne diseases in \ncompanion animals in Europe is also rising. This study has tried to map out the \nprevalence of a number of tick-borne zoonoses in I. hexagonus ticks originating \nfrom cats in the Netherlands. \nSince the way of life of I. hexagonus is totally different from that of I. ricinus and \nbecause there has only been limited research to I. hexagonus, there has been \nchosen to investigate I. hexagonus ticks. \nWith screening by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and revere line blot (RLB) \nhybridization, 182 ♀ I. hexagonus ticks – collected from July 2005 up to \nSeptember 2009 – from the collection of the Utrecht Centre for Tick-borne \nDiseases (UCTD), were screened for the presence of Anaplasma spp., Bartonella \nspp., Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Coxiella burnetii, Francisella tularensis and \nRickettsia spp. \nThe screened I. hexagonus ticks were infected with A. phagocytophilum (2.75%) \nand B. schoenbuchensis (2.20%). This is the first time that B. schoenbuchensis is \ndemonstrated in ticks originating from cats. B. schoenbuchensis is associated with \nthe zoonosis deer ked dermatitis, although the exact role in the etiology of this \ndisease remains to be elucidated. \nFurther, there were positive results for R. helvetica and there was one positive \nresult for R. massiliae. Because the 16S rRNA sequences of 2 other samples which were positive for Rickettsia spp. by RLB did not match the 16S rRNA sequence of any known Rickettsia spp., these results should be carefully interpreted. \nIt was remarkable that B. burgdorferi sensu lato was not found in any of the \nscreened ticks. \nOn account of – during this investigation – encountered problems with a newly \ndeveloped diagnostic RLB test for Francisella and Coxiella, there are no reliable \nresults concerning the prevalence of these pathogens. At the moment the UCTD is \nworking to prevent such problems in the future. \nTo conclude: more research at tick-borne zoonoses is desirable, because not from \nall infectious agents it is known whether they are a zoonosis or not and it is not \nalways known what the role of ticks is in the transmission of these agents.
Author: A. Oldehinkel
Language: Dutch
Subfield: Parasitology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W152187112