We examined the presence of borreliae and rickettsiae bacteria in ticks from wild passerine birds on three islands of the Archipelago of the Azores, the westernmost region of Palearctic. A total of 266 birds belonging to eight species from seven families were examined on São Miguel, Santa Maria and Graciosa islands in 2013. Ticks collected from these birds consisted of 55 Ixodes frontalis (22 larvae, 32 nymphs, 1 adult female) and 16 Haemaphysalis punctata nymphs. Turdus merula and Erithacus rubecula were the birds most infested with both tick species. Three T. merula in Santa Maria were infested with 4 I. frontalis infected with Borrelia turdi. No rickettsiae were found in the ticks. We report for the first time the presence of I. frontalis and B. turdi on the Azores islands and we showed that the spatial distribution reaches further west than previously thought.

Center for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge Águas de Moura Portugal

Center for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge Águas de Moura Portugal; Emergency Response and Biopreparedness Unit National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge Lisboa Portugal

CIBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos InBIO Laboratório Associado Polo dos Açores Universidade dos Açores Ponta Delgada Portugal

Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva e Saúde Animal Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil

Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Brno Czech Republic; CEITEC VFU University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Life Sciences Institute of Marine Research IMAR CMA University of Coimbra Coimbra Portugal; Center for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge Águas de Moura Portugal

Instituto de Patología Animal Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias Universidad Austral de Chile Valvidia Chile

Laboratório de Hantaviroses e Rickettsioses Instituto Oswaldo Cruz IOC Fundação Oswaldo Cruz FIOCRUZ Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Citace poskytuje Crossref.org

East-to-west dispersal of bird-associated ixodid ticks in the northern Palaearctic: Review of already reported tick species according to longitudinal migratory avian hosts and first evidence on the genetic connectedness of Ixodes apronophorus between Siberia and Europe

Insect ectoparasites from wild passerine birds in the Azores Islands