Wild small mammals are the most common reservoirs of pathogenic microorganisms that can cause zoonotic diseases. The aim of the study was to detect antibodies related to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, Coxiella burnetii, and Francisella tularensis in wild small mammals from the Czech Republic. In total, sera or heart rinses of 211 wild small mammals (168 Apodemus flavicollis, 28 Myodes glareolus, 9 A. sylvaticus, and 6 Sorex araneus) were examined by modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Antibodies related to B.burgdorferi s.l., C. burnetii, and F. tularensis were detected in 15%, 19%, and 20% of animals, respectively. The prevalence of B. burgdorferi and F. tularensis statistically differed in localities and F. tularensis also differed in sex. Antibodies against 2-3 pathogens were found in 17% of animals with a higher prevalence in M. glareolus. This study brings new data about the prevalence of the above-mentioned pathogens.

Department of Biology and Wildlife Diseases Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Palackého tř 1946 1 612 42 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Biology Faculty of Education Masaryk University Kamenice 753 5 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Comparative Animal Physiology and General Zoology Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kamenice 753 5 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science Masaryk University Kotlářská 2 611 37 Brno Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Snydman D.R. Lyme disease. Medicine. 2017;45:743–746. doi: 10.1016/j.mpmed.2017.09.005. DOI

Gern L., Estrada-Peña A., Frandsen F., Gray J.S., Jaenson T.G.T., Jongejan F., Kahl O., Korenberg E., Mehl R., Nuttall P.A. European reservoir hosts of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Zbl. Bakter. 1998;287:196–204. doi: 10.1016/S0934-8840(98)80121-7. PubMed DOI

Sharma N., Hotta A., Yamamoto Y., Uda A., Fujita O., Mizoguchi T., Shindo J., Park C.-H., Kudo N., Hatai H., et al. Serosurveillance for Francisella tularensis among wild animals in Japan using a newly developed competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2014;14:234–239. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2013.1349. PubMed DOI PMC

Żukiewicz-Sobczak W., Zwoliński J., Chmielewska-Badora J., Galińska E.M., Cholewa G., Krasowska E., Zagórski J., Wojtyła A., Tomasiewicz K., Kłapeć T. Prevalence of antibodies against selected zoonotic agents in forestry workers from eastern and southern Poland. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2014;21:767–770. doi: 10.5604/12321966.1129930. PubMed DOI

Bolaños-Rivero M., Carranza-Rodríguez C., Rodríguez N.F., Gutiérrez C., Pérez-Arellano J.-L. Detection of Coxiella burnetii DNA in peridomestic and wild animals and ticks in an endemic region (Canary Islands, Spain) Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2017;17:630–634. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2017.2120. PubMed DOI

Pluta S., Hartelt K., Oehme R., Mackenstedt U., Kimmig P. Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii and Rickettsia spp. In ticks and rodents in southern Germany. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2010;1:145–147. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2010.04.001. PubMed DOI

Psaroulaki A., Hadjichristodoulou C., Loukaides F., Soteriades E., Konstantinidis A., Papastergiou P., Ioannidou M.C., Tselentis Y. Epidemiological study of Q fever in humans, ruminant animals, and ticks in Cyprus using a geographical information system. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 2006;25:576–586. doi: 10.1007/s10096-006-0170-7. PubMed DOI

Maurin M., Raoult D. Q fever. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 1999;12:518–553. doi: 10.1128/CMR.12.4.518. PubMed DOI PMC

Baskerville A., Hambleton P. Pathogenesis and pathology of respiratory tularemia in the rabbit. Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 1976;57:339–347. PubMed PMC

Hennebique A., Boisset S., Maurin M. Tularemia as a waterborne disease: A review. Emerg. Microbes Infect. 2019;8:1027–1042. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2019.1638734. PubMed DOI PMC

Vostal K., Žákovská A. Two-year study of examination of blood from wild rodents for the presence of antiborrelian antibodies. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2003;10:203–206. PubMed

Štefančíková A., Bhide M., Peťko B., Stanko M., Mošanský L., Fričova J., Derdáková M., Trávniček M. Anti-Borrelila antibodies in rodents: Important hosts in ecology of Lyme disease. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2004;11:209–213. PubMed

Štefančíková A., Derdáková M., Škardová I., Szestáková E., Čisláková L., Kováčová D., Stanko M., Peťko B. Some epidemiological and epizootiological aspects of Lyme borreliosis in Slovakia with the emphasis on the problems of serological diagnostics. Biologia. 2008;63:1135–1142. doi: 10.2478/s11756-008-0177-x. DOI

Pawelczyk A., Sinski E. Prevalence of IGG antibodies response to Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in populations of wild rodents from Mazury Lakes District region of Poland. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2000;7:79–83. PubMed

Pascucci I., Di Domenico M., Dall’Acqua F., Sozio G., Camma C. Detection of Lyme Disease and Q Fever agents in wild rodents in central Italy. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2015;15:404–411. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2015.1807. PubMed DOI PMC

Meredith A.L., Cleaveland S.C., Denwood M.J., Brown J.K., Shaw D.J. Coxiella burnetii (Q fever) seroprevalence in prey and predators in the United Kingdom: Evaluation of infection in wild rodents, foxes and domestic cats using a modified ELISA. Transbound Emerg. Dis. 2015;62:639–649. doi: 10.1111/tbed.12211. PubMed DOI

Schmidt S., Essbauer S.S., Mayer-Scholl A., Poppert S., Schmidt-Chanasit J., Klempa B., Henning K., Schares G., Groschup M.H., Spitzenberger F., et al. Multiple infections of rodents with zoonotic pathogens in Austria. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2014;14 doi: 10.1089/vbz.2013.1504. PubMed DOI PMC

Christova I., Gladnishka T. Prevalence of infection with Francisella tularensis, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in rodents from an endemic focus of tularemia in Bulgaria. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2004;12:149–152. PubMed

Mostafavi E., Shahraki A.H., Japoni-Nejad A., Esmaeili S., Darvish J., Sedaghat M.M., Mohammadi A., Mohammadi Z., Mahmoudi A., Pourhossein B., et al. A field study of plague and tularaemia in rodents, Western Iran. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2017;17:247–253. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2016.2053. PubMed DOI

Zhang F., Liu W., Chu M.C., He J., Duan Q., Wu X.-M., Zhang P.-H., Zhao Q.-M., Yang H., Xin Z.-T., et al. Francisella tularensis in rodents, China. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 2006;12:994–996. doi: 10.3201/eid1206.051324. PubMed DOI PMC

Sunagar R., Kumar S., Franz B.J., Gosselin E.J. Vaccination evokes gender-dependent protection against tularemia infection in C57BL/6Tac mice. Vaccine. 2016 doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.04.054. PubMed DOI PMC

Výrosteková V., Khanakah G., Kocianová E., Gurycová D., Stanek G. Prevalence of coinfection with Francisella tularensis in reservoir animals of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. 2002;114:482–488. PubMed

Regier Y., Komma K., Weigel W., Kraiczy P., Laisi A., Pulliainen A.T., Hain T., Kempf V.A.J. Combination of microbiome analysis and serodiagnostics to assess the risk of pathogen transmission by ticks to humans and animals in central Germany. Parasit. Vectors. 2019;12:11. doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-3240-7. PubMed DOI PMC

Bielawska-Drózd A., Cieślik P., Żakowska D., Głowacka P., Wlizło-Skowronek B., Zięba P., Zdun A. Detection of Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis in tissues of wild-living animals and in ticks of North-west Poland. Pol. J. Microbiol. 2018;67:529–534. doi: 10.21307/pjm-2018-059. PubMed DOI PMC

Otto P., Chaignat V., Klimpel D., Diller R., Melzer F., Müller W., Tomaso H. Serological investigation of wild boars (Sus scrofa) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as indicator animals for circulation of Francisella tularensis in Germany. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2014;14:46–51. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2013.1321. PubMed DOI PMC

Taylor L.H., Latham S., Mark E.J. Woolhouse Risk factors for human disease emergence. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2001;356:983–989. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2001.0888. PubMed DOI PMC

Szymańska-Czerwińska M., Galińska E.M., Niemczuk K., Knap J.P. Prevalence of Coxiella burnetii infection in humans occupationally exposed to animals in Poland. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2015;15:261–267. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2014.1716. PubMed DOI PMC

Daszak P., Cunningham A.A., Hyatt A.D. Emerging infectious diseases of wildlife-threats to biodiversity and human Health. Science. Science. 2000;287:443–449. doi: 10.1126/science.287.5452.443. PubMed DOI

Dahmana H., Granjon L., Diagne C., Davoust B., Fenollar F., Mediannikov O. Rodents as hosts of pathogens and related zoonotic disease risk. Pathogens. 2020;9:202. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9030202. PubMed DOI PMC

Žákovská A., Rusňáková H., Vostal K. Host response to Borrelia afzelii in BALB/c mice tested by immunoblotting. Ann. Agric. Environ. Med. 2013;20:823–825. PubMed

Statsoft Inc. STATISTICA (Data Analysis Software System), Version 12. [(accessed on 29 March 2021)];2013 Available online: www.statsoft.com.