Browsing by Author "Ramos, J."
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- Coxiella burnetii screening in petsPublication . Raposo Duarte, L.; Almeida, B.; Ramos, J.; Henriques, J.; Alves, M.; Santos, A.S.
- Do ticks and Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. constitute a burden to birds?Publication . Norte, A.; Lobato, D.; Braga, E.; Antonini, Y.; Lacorte, G.; Gonçalves, M.; Lopes de Carvalho, I.; Gern, L.; Núncio, M.; Ramos, J.Ticks consume resources from their hosts shaping their life-history traits and are vectors of many zoonotic pathogens. Several studies have focused on the health effects of blood sucking ectoparasites on avian hosts, but there is limited information on the effects of ticks on adult and sub-adult birds, which may actively avoid ticks and are likely to present low infestation intensities. We evaluated the effects of the presence of feeding ticks and intensity of infestation on health variables of avian hosts. We also evaluated whether these variables were affected by tick infection by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) and by the presence of Borrelia infection on the birds’ skin. Presence of parasite association among ticks, haemosporidea and Borrelia within the bird-host was also tested. We found that infestation by ticks significantly increased heterophyl/lymphocyte ratio in Turdus merula suggesting increased stress. This was especially evident at high infestation intensities when a significant decrease in body mass and body condition (body mass corrected for size) was also observed. Erithacus rubecula infested with more than ten larvae tended to have lower haematocrit and blood haemoglobin. Plasma globulin concentration in T.merula tended to be affected by the presence of attached ticks and their infection with Borrelia, but this depended on the age of the bird. No association was detected among ticks, haemosporidea and Borrelia infection. We showed that ticks have detrimental effects on their avian hosts even under natural infestation conditions and that confirmed Borrelia reservoir hosts may also present symptoms of infection, though these may be subtle.
- Sensitivity of biological samples for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infection status assessment in avian hostsPublication . Norte, A.C.; Augusto, L.; Araújo, M.; Núncio, M.S.; Ramos, J.; Lopes de Carvalho, I.Avian hosts can act as reservoirs for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), a bacterial complex that includes the etiologic agents of Lyme borreliosis. It is relevant to evaluate the infection status of the bird species to elucidate their importance as reservoir hosts, because not all contribute equally to the maintenance of Borrelia. There is a lack of a reliable non-invasive technique that allows us to assess the infection status of B. burgdorferi s.l. in wildlife. Thus, the main goal of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of biological samples such as blood and skin biopsies from two avian model species, Turdus merula and Erithacus rubecula, to diagnose B. burgdorferi s.l. infection and give information on their infectivity to ticks. Blood and skin tissues were collected from 16 Erithacus rubecula and 10 Turdus merula captured in Borrelia enzootic areas. These birds were taken into captivity and subjected to xenodiagnoses. DNA was extracted from blood and skin samples and from the fed xenodiagnostic larvae, and analysed for B. burgdorferi s.l. infection by real-time PCR directed to the flaB gene. Sensitivity of these approaches to evaluate host’s infection status will be compared and will help to elucidate B. burgdorferi s.l tropism in the birds’ organism.