Detection, identification and genotyping of Borrelia spp. in ticks of Coastal-Karst and Littoral-Inner Carniola regions in Slovenia.
Folia Parasitol (Praha)
; 702023 Mar 31.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37042198
ABSTRACT
The density and spread of tick vector species have increased throughout Europe in the last 30 years, leading to an increase of Lyme borreliosis cases, including in Slovenia. The aim of this study was to isolate Borrelia strains and determine the prevalence of B. burgdorferi sensu lato and B. miyamotoi in adults of Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus) collected in 2019 in the two regions of the country (Coastal-Karst and Littoral-Inner Carniola) by cultivation and PCR. We isolated B. burgdorferi s.l. by culture method in 28/559 (5%) ticks from both regions. Culture-negative samples (531/559, i.e., 95%) were additionally tested by real-time PCR. In 155/531 (29.2%) PCR-positive samples, a fragment of flaB or glpQ was amplified and further sequenced to identify species of the Borrelia. Using both methods, cultivation and PCR, Borrelia spp. prevalence was 32.7% in the Coastal-Karst region and 33.0% in the Littoral-Inner Carniola region. Genotyping of the Borrelia spp. isolates revealed that 17/28 (60%) were B. garinii subtype Mlg2. Of all tick samples tested for B. miyamotoi 8/398 (2%) were PCR positive. Based on previous studies in these regions, we had expected more ticks to be infected with B. afzelii, but genotyping revealed that B. garinii was the most abundant.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Borrelia
/
Ixodes
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Animals
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Folia Parasitol (Praha)
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Eslovenia
Publication country:
CZ
/
CZECH REPUBLIC
/
REPUBLICA CHECA
/
REPÚBLICA TCHECA