Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;37(2):179-188.
doi: 10.1111/mve.12620. Epub 2022 Oct 26.

Limited detection of shared zoonotic pathogens in deer keds and blacklegged ticks co-parasitizing white-tailed deer in the eastern United States

Pia Untalan Olafson  1 , Karen C Poh  2   3 , Jesse R Evans  2 , Michael J Skvarla  2 , Erika T Machtinger  2
Affiliations

Limited detection of shared zoonotic pathogens in deer keds and blacklegged ticks co-parasitizing white-tailed deer in the eastern United States

Pia Untalan Olafson et al. Med Vet Entomol. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Deer keds, such as Lipoptena cervi Linnaeus (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), are blood-feeding flies from which several human and animal pathogens have been detected, including Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato Johnson (Spirochaetales: Borreliaceae), the causative agent of Lyme disease. Cervids (Artiodactyla: Cervidae), which are the primary hosts of deer keds, are not natural reservoirs of B. burgdorferi sl, and it has been suggested that deer keds may acquire bacterial pathogens via co-feeding near infected ticks. We screened L. cervi (n = 306) and Ixodes scapularis Say (Ixodida: Ixodidae) (n = 315) collected from 38 white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania for the family Anaplasmataceae, Bartonella spp. (Hyphomicrobiales: Bartonellaceae), Borrelia spp., and Rickettsia spp. (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae). Limited similarity in the bacterial DNA detected between these ectoparasites per host suggested that co-feeding may not be a mechanism by which deer keds acquire these bacteria. The feeding biology and life history of deer keds may impact the observed results, as could the season when specimens were collected. We separately screened L. cervi (n = 410), L. mazamae Róndani (n = 13), L. depressa Say (n = 10), and Neolipoptena ferrisi Bequaert (n = 14) collections from locations within the United States and Canada for the same pathogens. These results highlight the need to further study deer ked-host and deer ked-tick relationships.

Keywords: Anaplasmatacae; Bartonella spp.; Borrelia spp.; Ixodes scapularis; Lipoptena cervi; Lipoptena depressa; Lipoptena mazamae; Neolipoptena ferrisi; Odocoileus virginianus; Rickettsia spp..

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Barbour, A.G., Maupin, G.O., Teltow, G.J., Carter, C.J. & Piesman, J. (1996) Identification of an uncultivable Borrelia species in the hard tick Amblyomma americanum: possible agent of a Lyme disease-like illness. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 173, 403-409.
    1. Brown, S.M., Lehman, P.M., Kern, R.A. & Henning, J.D. (2015) Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, within southwestern Pennsylvania. Journal of Vector Ecology, 40, 180-183.
    1. Buss, M., Case, L., Kearney, B., Coleman, C. & Henning, J.D. (2016) Detection of Lyme disease and anaplasmosis pathogens via PCR in Pennsylvania deer ked. Journal of Vector Ecology, 41, 292-294.
    1. Cull, B., Burkhardt, N.Y., Wang, X.R., Thorpe, C.J., Oliver, J.D., Kurtti, T.J. et al. (2021) The Ixodes scapularis symbiont rickettsia buchneri inhibits growth of pathogenic Rickettsiaceae in tick cells: implications for vector competence. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, 748427.
    1. de Bruin, A., van Leeuwen, A.D., Jahfari, S., Takken, W., Foldvari, M., Dremmel, L. et al. (2015) Vertical transmission of Bartonella schoenbuchensis in Lipoptena cervi. Parasites & Vectors, 8, 176.

Publication types

Supplementary concepts

LinkOut - more resources