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The natural infection of birds and ticks feeding on birds with Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii in Slovakia

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Abstract

Ixodid ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) are known as primary vectors of many pathogens causing diseases in humans and animals. Ixodes ricinus is a common ectoparasite in Europe and birds are often hosts of subadult stages of the tick. From 2012 to 2013, 347 birds belonging to 43 species were caught and examined for ticks in three sites of Slovakia. Ticks and blood samples from birds were analysed individually for the presence of Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii by PCR-based methods. Only I. ricinus was found to infest birds. In total 594 specimens of bird-attached ticks were collected (451 larvae, 142 nymphs, 1 female). Altogether 37.2 % (16/43) of bird species were infested by ticks and some birds carried more than one tick. The great tit, Parus major (83.8 %, 31/37) was the most infested species. In total, 6.6 and 2.7 % of bird-attached ticks were infected with Rickettsia spp. and C. burnetii, respectively. Rickettsia helvetica predominated (5.9 %), whereas R. monacensis (0.5 %) was only sporadically detected. Coxiella burnetii was detected in 0.9 %, Rickettsia spp. in 8.9 % and R. helvetica in 4.2 % of bird blood samples. The great tit was the bird species most infested with I. ricinus, carried R. helvetica and C. burnetti positive tick larvae and nymphs and was found to be rickettsaemic in its blood. Further studies are necessary to define the role of birds in the circulation of rickettsiae and C. burnetii in natural foci.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Project VEGA No. 2/0061/13 from the Scientific Grant Agency of Ministry of Education and Slovak Academy of Sciences and by Projects Nos. 0280-12 and DO7RP–0014–11 from the Slovak Research and Development Agency. The study was partly funded by EU Grant FP7-261504 EDENext and is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee as EDENext392 (http://www.edenext.eu). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and don’t necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission. This contribution is also the result of using infrastructure acquired by the project implementation (code ITMS: 26240220044), supported by the Research & Development Operational Programme funded by the ERDF. The authors thank Dr. Veronika Rusňáková-Tarageľová and Dr. Elena Kocianová for their help with identification of ticks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 05, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Lenka Berthová, Zuzana Sekeyová & Eva Špitalská

  2. State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, Dlhá 3, 971 01, Prievidza, Slovakia

    Vladimír Slobodník

  3. Raptor Protection of Slovakia, Kuklovská 5, 841 04, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Roman Slobodník

  4. National Park Slovak Karst, Hámossyho 188, 049 51, Brzotín, Slovakia

    Milan Olekšák

  5. Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 06, Bratislava, Slovakia

    Zuzana Svitálková & Mária Kazimírová

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  1. Lenka Berthová
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  2. Vladimír Slobodník
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  3. Roman Slobodník
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  4. Milan Olekšák
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  6. Zuzana Svitálková
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  7. Mária Kazimírová
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  8. Eva Špitalská
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Correspondence to Eva Špitalská.

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The experiments presented in this paper comply with current laws of the Slovak Republic. Birds were captured, ringed, blood sampled and released under the permission of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 9368/2011-2.2.

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No competing financial interest exist. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Berthová, L., Slobodník, V., Slobodník, R. et al. The natural infection of birds and ticks feeding on birds with Rickettsia spp. and Coxiella burnetii in Slovakia. Exp Appl Acarol 68, 299–314 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-015-9975-3

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