Prevalence, diversity, and load of Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans in regions of Sweden and Aland Islands, Finland with different Lyme borreliosis incidences.

ABSTRACT: The incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in a region may reflect the prevalence of Borrelia in the tick population. Our aim was to investigate if regions with different LB incidences can be distinguished by studying the prevalence and diversity of Borrelia species in their respective tick populations. The Borrelia load in a feeding tick increases with the duration of feeding, which may facilitate a transmission of Borrelia Spirochetes from tick to host. Therefore, we also wanted to investigate how the Borrelia load in ticks that have fed on humans varies with the duration of tick feeding. During 2008 and 2009, ticks that had bitten humans were collected from four regions of Sweden and Finland, regions with expected differences in LB incidence. The duration of tick feeding was estimated and B

SUBMITTER: Wilhelmsson P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3836827 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature