Does Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato influence tick behavior?
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Numerous studies indicate that pathogens may modify the behavior of infected animal, which may have epidemiological consequences. Manipulating animal behavior by pathogens represents one of the most fascinating issues in zoology. For example, it was proven that animals infected by tick-borne encephalitis virus showed higher activity and tolerance to the DEET-containing repellents (N, N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, a frequently used active ingredient in arthropod repellents). In our experiments the moving-object-bioassay was used to study repellent efficiency on the Ixodes ricinus nymphs captured in the suburban park Pisárky Brno, Czech Republic. Five selected commercial repellents based on DEET (N, N-diethyl-3-thylbenzamide) showed statistically different effects on the non-repellent control group. After this and as well as other studies with repelents we hypothesized that the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the nymphs of Ixodes ricinus ticks collected in the same locality Pisárky Brno affects their response to the essential oil extracted from Curcuma xanthorrhiza, a substance with potentially repellent properties. A sample of 50 nymphs, on which the repellent effect of essential oil (0.005 mg/cm2) was tested, was subsequently analyzed for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato by the PCR method. Based on the statistical evaluation of the results, it can be concluded that the link between the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in ticks and their response to the repellent formulation was not proven. |