Road-killed vertebrates as sentinel hosts for active surveillance of tick-borne pathogens

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62157124%3A16170%2F22%3A43880078" target="_blank" >RIV/62157124:16170/22:43880078 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/62157124:16170/18:43876322

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Road-killed vertebrates as sentinel hosts for active surveillance of tick-borne pathogens

Original language description

Tick-borne zoonoses represent a serious threat to human and animal health, therefore, more and more efforts are devoted to monitoring the spatial distribution, intensity, and diversity of their causative agents. Nevertheless, most studies focus recently on the tick vectors, whereas vertebrate hosts remain neglected, mostly due to issues associated with complicated sampling (laborious, skill-demanding, legislative/species protection, etc.). The main aim of our project was to verify whether the carcasses of accidentally killed animals (mostly roadkill) are a suitable source of biological material for tick-borne pathogens monitoring. Considering the epidemiological significance, we have focused specifically on urban habitats. Hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus), squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), and blackbirds (Turdus merula) were chosen as representatives of synanthropic wildlife that thrive in urban areas, are ordinarily infested by ticks and seem to be suitable hosts for a lot of zoonotic pathogens. A total of 267 specimens (125 hedgehogs, 54 squirrels, and 88 blackbirds) were collected in several Czech cities with public involvement. Altogether 1,827 of different tissues samples were screened using multiplex real-time PCR assays for nine pathogens. The efficiency of various pathogen detections was compared among the different tested tissues of target vertebrate species and the ear and/or skin was the most universal tissue to reliably reveal the positive individuals. However, the fluctuation of efficiency for different tissues from 65 to 90% indicates that the combination of several tissue samples increases the overall sensitivity. In general, the highest prevalence in tested hosts species was detected for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., and Bartonella spp. and for all three pathogens, the conventional PCRs and sequencing revealed several (geno)species and/or ecotypes. The prevalence of these pathogens for E. europaeus, E. roumanicus, S. vulgaris, and T. merula reached 84%, 67%, 85%, 54% for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., 98%, 98%, 60%, 50% for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and 29%, 48%, 80%, 0% for Bartonella spp., respectively. In conclusion, the carcasses of accidentally killed vertebrates in urban environments were confirmed to be a very useful source of biological material for monitoring several tick-borne pathogens.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

40301 - Veterinary science

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA17-16009S" target="_blank" >GA17-16009S: Role of Urban Wildlife in Circulation of Vector-borne Zoonotic Pathogens with Emphasis on Anaplasma phagocytophilum</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů