Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick-borne bacterial pathogen
Birds are hosts for several zoonotic pathogens. Because of their high mobility, especially of longdistance migrants, birds can disperse these pathogens, affecting their distribution and phylogeography. We focused on Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, which includes the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, as an example for tick-borne pathogens, to address the role of birds as propagation hosts of zoonotic agents at a large geographical scale. We collected ticks from passerine birds in 11 European countries. B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence in Ixodes spp. was 37% and increased with latitude. The fieldfare Turdus pilaris and the blackbird T. merula carried ticks with the highest Borrelia prevale…
Molecular detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato – An analytical comparison of real-time PCR protocols from five different Scandinavian laboratories
Introduction Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick transmitted disease in Europe. The diagnosis of LB today is based on the patient A s medical history, clinical presentation and laboratory findings. The laboratory diagnostics are mainly based on antibody detection, but in certain conditions molecular detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may serve as a complement. Aim The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analytical sensitivity, analytical specificity and concordance of eight different real-time PCR methods at five laboratories in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Method Each participating laboratory was asked to analyse three different sets of samples (reference panels; a…