Birds are long-known as important disseminators of ixodid ticks, in which context mostly their latitudinal, south-to-north migration is considered. However, several bird species that occur in the eastern part of the northern Palaearctic are known to migrate westward. In this study, a female tick collected from the sedge warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, in Lithuania was identified morphologically and analyzed with molecular-phylogenetic methods. In addition, literature data were reviewed on ixodid tick species known to be associated with birds that have recorded east-to-west migratory route in the Palaearctic. The tick collected from A. schoenobaenus was morphologically identified as Ixodes apronophorus. Two mitochondrial genetic markers for this specimen showed 100% identity with a conspecific tick reported previously in Western Siberia, Russia. Based on literature data, as many as 82 bird species from 11 orders were found to have records of ringing in the easternmost part of the northern Palaearctic and recaptures in Europe. Of these bird species, 31 ixodid tick species were reported in the Euro-Siberian region. Nearly all passeriform bird species with east-to-west migration were reported to carry ticks, whereas no reports of tick infestation were documented from the majority of wetland-associated bird species, mostly from the orders Anseriformes and Charadriiformes. The first European sequences of bona fide I. apronophorus revealed genetic connectedness with conspecific ticks reported from Siberia. Since the principal hosts of this tick species are rodents which do not migrate large distances, the most likely explanation for genetic similarity in this direction is dispersal of this tick species via migratory birds. Given the high number of tick species that are known to associate with bird species migrating in westward direction, this appears to be an important means of the gene flow between geographically distant tick populations in the northern Palaearctic.

• Keywords
• 16S rRNA gene, Acrocephalus, Bird migration, Ixodidae, Passeriformes, cox1 gene,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

Tick-borne diseases represent major public and animal health issues worldwide. Ixodes ricinus, primarily associated with deciduous and mixed forests, is the principal vector of causative agents of viral, bacterial, and protozoan zoonotic diseases in Europe. Recently, abundant tick populations have been observed in European urban green areas, which are of public health relevance due to the exposure of humans and domesticated animals to potentially infected ticks. In urban habitats, small and medium-sized mammals, birds, companion animals (dogs and cats), and larger mammals (roe deer and wild boar) play a role in maintenance of tick populations and as reservoirs of tick-borne pathogens. Presence of ticks infected with tick-borne encephalitis virus and high prevalence of ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., causing Lyme borreliosis, have been reported from urbanized areas in Europe. Emerging pathogens, including bacteria of the order Rickettsiales (Anaplasma phagocytophilum, "Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis," Rickettsia helvetica, and R. monacensis), Borrelia miyamotoi, and protozoans (Babesia divergens, B. venatorum, and B. microti) have also been detected in urban tick populations. Understanding the ecology of ticks and their associations with hosts in a European urbanized environment is crucial to quantify parameters necessary for risk pre-assessment and identification of public health strategies for control and prevention of tick-borne diseases.

• Keywords
• Europe, Ixodes ricinus, tick-borne pathogens, ticks, urban habitats,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Review MeSH

Ixodes ricinus ticks collected from 835 birds and from vegetation in the Czech Republic were analyzed. Host-seeking ticks (n = 427) were infected predominantly by Borrelia afzelii (25%). Ticks (n = 1,012) from songbirds (Passeriformes) were infected commonly by Borrelia garinii (12.1%) and Borrelia valaisiana (13.4%). Juveniles of synanthropic birds, Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and song thrushes (Turdus philomelos), were major reservoir hosts of B. garinii.

• MeSH
• Borrelia classification   genetics   isolation & purification   MeSH
• DNA, Bacterial MeSH
• Tick Infestations parasitology   veterinary   MeSH
• Ixodes microbiology   physiology   MeSH
• Bird Diseases microbiology   MeSH
• Passeriformes microbiology   parasitology   MeSH
• Polymerase Chain Reaction MeSH
• Feeding Behavior physiology   MeSH
• Disease Reservoirs microbiology   MeSH
• Songbirds microbiology   parasitology   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic MeSH
• Names of Substances
• DNA, Bacterial MeSH