F. (Fedor) Gassner: Tick tactics


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29 Nov 2010 13:30

Unit: Laboratory of Entomology

Location: Aula, building 362, Gen. Foulkesweg 1, Wageningen

Organisation: Wageningen University

Promotor: prof.dr. W. Takken (Entomologie), prof.dr. M. Dicke (Entomologie)

Co Promotor: Dr. L. S. van Overbeek

Lyme borreliosis has faced a strong increase over the past decades. This thesis, entitled “Tick tactics”, by Fedor Gassner, describes research that was conducted on the ecological factors that underlie Lyme borreliosis. The disease is caused by bacteria of the Borrelia burgdorferi group. These are ingested by Ixodes ricinus ticks during their blood meal on a Borrelia-infected mouse or song bird. Next, Borrelia can be transmitted to a new host, including humans, during a next blood meal.
The work presented in this thesis shows that substantial temporal and spatial variation exists in tick densities, Borrelia infection percentages in ticks and in other bacterial agents that reside inside ticks. Part of this variation can be attributed to variation in vegetation characteristics and mice populations.
The presence of domestic cattle in woodlands was found to reduce tick densities, whereas Borrelia infection rates in ticks were not affected in the grazed forests. The reduction of ticks shows that cattle may reduce Lyme disease risk.
Finally, it was discovered that Borrelia-infected ticks are more active and more resistant to dehydration compared to uninfected ticks. This Borrelia-induced behavioural change may result in an increased encounter chance between ticks and their hosts, and thereby an increased chance of pathogen transmission to the hosts, including humans.

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