Volume 12, Number 7—July 2006
Research
Migratory Passerine Birds as Reservoirs of Lyme Borreliosis in Europe
Pär Comstedt*, Sven Bergström*, Björn Olsen*†, Ulf Garpmo*‡, Lisette Marjavaara*, Hans Mejlon§, Alan G. Barbour¶, and Jonas Bunikis¶
Table 3
Borrelia species in Ixodes ricinus ticks from migratory birds
| Larvae | Nymphs | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. ticks tested* | 606 | 514 | 1,120 | ||
| No. (%) positive | |||||
| LB group† | 61 (10.1) | 99 (19.3) | 160 (14.3) | ||
| B. garinii | 27 | 48 | 75 | ||
| B. burgdorferi | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| B. afzelli | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||
| B. valaisiana | 1 | 5 | 6 | ||
| RF group† | 1 (0.2) | 2 (0.4) | 3 (0.3) | ||
| B. miyamotoi | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
*Quantitative polymerase chain reaction for Lyme borreliosis (LB) and relapsing fever (RF) including B. miyamotoi group spirochetes (11).
†Borrelia species was determined for 88 of 160 LB-positive samples and all 3 RF-positive samples by sequencing a partial rrs-rrl intergenic spacer region region (25) or, for B. valaisiana, a partial 16S rRNA gene (24).
