Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jan 5;5(1):e8572.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008572.

Dissemination of spotted fever rickettsia agents in Europe by migrating birds

Karin Elfving  1 , Björn Olsen, Sven Bergström, Jonas Waldenström, Ake Lundkvist, Anders Sjöstedt, Hans Mejlon, Kenneth Nilsson
Affiliations

Dissemination of spotted fever rickettsia agents in Europe by migrating birds

Karin Elfving et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Migratory birds are known to play a role as long-distance vectors for many microorganisms. To investigate whether this is true of rickettsial agents as well, we characterized tick infestation and gathered ticks from 13,260 migratory passerine birds in Sweden. A total of 1127 Ixodes spp. ticks were removed from these birds and the extracted DNA from 957 of them was available for analyses. The DNA was assayed for detection of Rickettsia spp. using real-time PCR, followed by DNA sequencing for species identification. Rickettsia spp. organisms were detected in 108 (11.3%) of the ticks. Rickettsia helvetica, a spotted fever rickettsia associated with human infections, was predominant among the PCR-positive samples. In 9 (0.8%) of the ticks, the partial sequences of 17kDa and ompB genes showed the greatest similarity to Rickettsia monacensis, an etiologic agent of Mediterranean spotted fever-like illness, previously described in southern Europe as well as to the Rickettsia sp.IrITA3 strain. For 15 (1.4%) of the ticks, the 17kDa, ompB, gltA and ompA genes showed the greatest similarity to Rickettsia sp. strain Davousti, Rickettsia japonica and Rickettsia heilongjiangensis, all closely phylogenetically related, the former previously found in Amblyomma tholloni ticks in Africa and previously not detected in Ixodes spp. ticks. The infestation prevalence of ticks infected with rickettsial organisms was four times higher among ground foraging birds than among other bird species, but the two groups were equally competent in transmitting Rickettsia species. The birds did not seem to serve as reservoir hosts for Rickettsia spp., but in one case it seems likely that the bird was rickettsiemic and that the ticks had acquired the bacteria from the blood of the bird. In conclusion, migratory passerine birds host epidemiologically important vector ticks and Rickettsia species and contribute to the geographic distribution of spotted fever rickettsial agents and their diseases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Raoult D, Roux V. Rickettsioses as paradigms of new or emerging infectious diseases. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1997;10:694–719. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parola P, Davoust B, Raoult D. Tick- and flea-borne rickettsial emerging zoonoses. Vet Res. 2005;46:469–492. - PubMed
    1. Parola P, Paddock CD, Raoult D. Tick-borne rickettsioses around the world: emerging diseases challenging old concepts. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2005;18:719–756. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fournier PE, Grunnenberger F, Jaulhac B, Gastinger G, Raoult D. Evidence of Rickettsia helvetica infection in humans, eastern France. Emerg Infect Dis. 2000;6:389–392. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nilsson K. Septicaemia with Rickettsia helvetica in a patient with acute febrile illness, rash and myasthenia. J Infect. 2009;58:79–82. - PubMed

Publication types