Article
Ticks on passerines from the Archipelago of the Azores as hosts of borreliae and rickettsiae
Registro en:
LITERAK, Ivan; et al. Ticks on passerines from the Archipelago of the Azores as hosts of borreliae and rickettsiae. TIcks and Tick-borne Diseases, v.6, n.5, p.607-610, July 2015.
1877-959X
10.1016/j.ttbdis.2015.05.003
1877-9603
Autor
Literak, Ivan
Norte, Ana Claudia
Nùncio, Maria Sofia
Carvalho, Isabel Lopes de
Ogrzewalska, Maria
Nováková, Markèta
Martins, Thiago F.
Sychra, Oldrich
Resendes, Roberto
Rodrigues, Pedro
Resumen
We examined the presence of borreliae and rickettsiae bacteria in ticks from wild passerine birds on three islands of the Archipelago of the Azores, the westernmost region of Palearctic. A total of 266 birds belonging to eight species from seven families were examined on São Miguel, Santa Maria and Graciosa islands in 2013. Ticks collected from these birds consisted of 55 Ixodes frontalis (22 larvae, 32 nymphs, 1 adult female) and 16 Haemaphysalis punctata nymphs. Turdus merula and Erithacus rubecula were the birds most infested with both tick species. Three T. merula in Santa Maria were infested with 4 I. frontalis infected with Borrelia turdi. No rickettsiae were found in the ticks. We report for the first time the presence of I. frontalis and B. turdi on the Azores islands and we showed that the spatial distribution reaches further west than previously thought.