Lyme disease enhances spread of emerging tick infection
December 29, 2014
Research led by the Yale School of Public Health and published Dec. 29 in the journal PLOS ONEused laboratory experiments, mathematical models, and fieldwork data to find that mice infected with the agent that causes Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) are at increased risk for also transmitting Babesia microti, the pathogen responsible for babesiosis, and could be enhancing the geographic spread of this emerging disease. Both diseases are transmitted to humans through the bite of infected black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis).
“We found that B. burgdorferi and B. microti co-occur in ticks more frequently than expected, resulting in enhanced human exposure to multiple infections that can cause more severe symptoms and sometimes make diagnosis more difficult.”
While the two diseases share some of the same symptoms, babesiosis is potentially fatal in immunocompromised patients and can be transmitted through blood transfusions in addition to tick bites, posing an additional public health threat.
Lees meer Bron: YaleNews
Borrelia burgdorferi Promotes the Establishment of Babesia microti in the Northeastern United States
Jessica M. Dunn, Peter J. Krause, Stephen Davis, Edouard G. Vannier, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick, Lindsay Rollend, Alexia A. Belperron, Sarah L. States, Andrew Stacey, Linda K. Bockenstedt, Durland Fish, Maria A. Diuk-Wasser
Published: December 29, 2014 •DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115494
Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi, the respective causative agents of human babesiosis and Lyme disease, are maintained in their enzootic cycles by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and use the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) as primary reservoir host. The geographic range of both pathogens has expanded in the United States, but the spread of babesiosis has lagged behind that of Lyme disease.
We fed I. scapularis larva on P. leucopus mice that had been infected in the laboratory with B. microti and/or B. burgdorferi. We observed that coinfection in mice increases the frequency of B. microti infected ticks.
Our studies suggest that B. burgdorferi contributes to the emergence and expansion of B. microti and provides a model to predict the ecological factors that are sufficient for emergence of B. microti in the wild.
Lees meer Bron: PLOS ONE