| dc.description.abstract | The goal of this research was to investigate the role of large game animals (roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, mouflon and wild boar) in the Netherlands as a reservoir of tick-transmitted diseases. Ticks and blood samples from 26 roe deer, 21 fallow deer, 11 red deer, 5 wild boars, 1 mouflon and 1 badger have been sent to the UCTD by hunters from five different areas. The species and stadia of the ticks were determined. The DNA of 172 ticks and 56 bloodsamples were examined on the presence of a couple of different pathogenes (Babesia, Borrelia, Bartonella, Ehrlichia/Anaplasma, Rickettsia and Nicolleia) by means of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and RLB (Reverse Line Blot). The DNA of several ticks and blood samples have been cloned.
Results showed that from 172 ticks, 168 were Ixodes ricinus, 4 ticks were Ixodes hexagonus. 4 out of 172 ticks were nymfs, 168 ticks were adults.
Results from RLB showed the following rates of infection in ticks: Babesia/Theileria: 1,2% (B. catch-all), Borrelia: 2,9% (B. afzelii, B. burgdorferi sensu lato, B. garinii), Bartonella: 9,3%, (B. catch-all, B. schoenbuchensis), Ehrlichia/Anaplasma: 20,9% (Ehrlichia/Anaplasma catch-all, E. schotti, A. phagocytophilum), Rickettsia: 6,9% (R. catch-all, R. helvetica), Nicolleia: 9,9% (N. catch-all).
The results showed the following percentages of infection for the following large game animals: Babesia/Theileria: roe deer: 29% (Theileria/Babesia catch-all, B. catch-all, B. canis, B. divergens), red deer: 27% (Theileria/Babesia catch-all, B. catch-all, B. divergens), fallow deer: 14% (Theileria/Babesia catch-all, B. catch-all, B. divergens), Bartonella: roe deer: 29% (B. catch-all, B. schoenbuchensis), red deer: 55% (B. catch-all), Ehrlichia/Anaplasma: roe deer: 24% (Ehrlichia/ Anaplasma catch-all, A. phagocytophilum), red deer: 27% (Ehrlichia/ Anaplasma catch-all, A. phagocytophilum), fallow deer: 24% (Ehrlichia/ Anaplasma catch-all).
Babesia/Theileria does not seem to trasfer efficiently from blood to ticks. Borrelia was not demonstrated in the blood of the large game animals; most probably due to the role of antibodies and the preference for areas with low oxygen saturations. Rickettsia and Nicolleia were not demonstrated in blood; large game animals do not appear to form a reservoir for these pathogens. Bartonella was demonstrated in blood of a mouflon and Ehrlichia/Anaplasma in a tick from this animal. Tick-transmitted pathogens were not demonstrated in blood samples from 5 wild boars and in 4 ticks from a badger.
Concusions cannot be made regarding results of autopsy by pathological examination. | |
| dc.subject.keywords | reservoir, game animals, wilde hoefdieren, deer, ree, mouflon, moeflon, boar, wild zwijn, ticks, teken, uctd, ixodes ricinus, babesia, theileria, borrelia, bartonella, ehrlichia, anaplasma, rickettsia, nicolleia | |
