Bunyaviruses are common in male and female Ixodes scapularis ticks in central Pennsylvania.

Abstract:

:The blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis is widely distributed in the United States and transmits multiple pathogens to humans, wildlife and domestic animals. Recently, several novel viruses in the family Bunyaviridae (South Bay virus (SBV) and Blacklegged tick phlebovirus (BTPV)) were identified infecting female I. scapularis ticks collected in New York State. We used metagenomic sequencing to investigate the distribution of viruses infecting male and female I. scapularis ticks collected in Centre County, Pennsylvania. We identified both SBV and BTPV in both male and female ticks from all collection locations. The role of male I. scapularis in pathogen epidemiology has been overlooked because they rarely bite and are not considered important pathogen vectors. However, males may act as reservoirs for pathogens that can then be transmitted to females during mating. Our data highlight the importance of examining all potential avenues of pathogen maintenance and transmission throughout the vector-pathogen life cycle in order to understand the epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens.

journal_name

PeerJ

journal_title

PeerJ

authors

Sakamoto JM,Ng TFF,Suzuki Y,Tsujimoto H,Deng X,Delwart E,Rasgon JL

doi

10.7717/peerj.2324

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2016-08-11 00:00:00

pages

e2324

issn

2167-8359

pii

2324

journal_volume

4

pub_type

杂志文章

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