Migratory birds as disseminators of ticks and the tick-borne pathogens Borrelia bacteria and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus: a seasonal study at Ottenby Bird Observatory in South-eastern Sweden

Table 2 Prevalence of Borrelia species in ticks removed from bird species captured at Ottenby Bird Observatory, Sweden 2009

Tick species	Stage^a	No. examined^b ticks of each stage	No. (%) positive ticks^c	No. (%) ticks containing Borrelia species determined by nucleotide sequencing^d
Tick species	Stage^a	No. examined^b ticks of each stage	No. (%) positive ticks^c	B. a	B. g		B. v		B. b		B. t		B. l	B. m			Mixed	UT
I. ricinus	L	514	80 (16)	1 (1)		19 (24)	3 (4)	1 (1)							8 (10)	2 (2)		46 (58)
	N	549	204 (37)	29 (14)		30 (15)	38 (19)	1 (1)		2 (1)		1 (1)			4 (2)	5 (2)		94 (46)
	U	5	1 (20)				1 (100)
I. frontalis	L	8	0 (0)
	N	15	3 (20)															3 (100)
	A	1	0 (0)
H. punctata	L	12	1 (8)															1 (100)
H. marginatum	L	1	0 (0)
	N	2	0 (0)
	A	1	0 (0)
Ixodes spp.	L	11	0 (0)
Ixodes spp.	N	5	1 (20)															1 (100)
All species	L	546	81 (15)	1 (1)		19 (23)	3 (4)	1 (1)							8 (10)	2 (3)		47 (58)
	N	571	208 (36)	29 (14)		30 (14)	38 (18)	1 (1)		2 (1)		1 (1)			4 (2)	5 (2)		98 (47)
	A	2	0 (0)
	U	5	1 (20)				1 (100)
All stages	L, N, A, U	1124	290 (26)	30 (10)		49 (17)	42 (14)	2 (1)		2 (1)		1 (1)			12 (4)	7 (2)		145 (50)

^aTick developmental stage: L, larva; N, nymph; A, Adult female; U, undetermined
^bTicks were examined for Borrelia spp. by the LUX real-time PCR assay
^cNumber of ticks yielding a positive outcome by LUX real-time PCR assay
^dAbbreviations of Borrelia species: B. a, Borrelia afzelii; B. g, Borrelia garinii; B. v, Borrelia valaisiana; B. b, Borrelia burgdorferi (s.s); B. t, Borrelia turdi; B. l, Borrelia lusitaniae; B. m, Borrelia miyamotoi; UT, untypeable

ISSN: 1756-3305