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Do ticks and Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. constitute a burden to birds?

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Abstract

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 10 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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Tapada Nacional de Mafra and Mata Nacional do Choupal, ICNF for logistic support, Carlos Bernardes for help with tick identification, Luís Silva, Miguel Araújo and Pedro Lopes who participated in fieldwork, Gabriel Félix for help with hemosporidea diagnosis, Paulo Sousa and Isabel Abrantes for laboratory facilities, and David Max and anonymous referees for their comments on the manuscript. This study was financially supported by a post-doctoral grant to Ana Cláudia Norte from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/62898/2009), by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) scholarships to Débora Lobato, Érica Braga and Yasmine Antonini and by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) funds to Laboratório de Malária, UFMG and Laboratório de Biodiversidade, UFOP, Brazil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine and Environmental Research Center IMAR/CMA, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Apartado 3046, 3001-401, Coimbra, Portugal

    A. C. Norte, M. Gonçalves & J. A. Ramos

  2. Center for Vector and Infectious Diseases Research, National Health Institute Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

    A. C. Norte, I. Lopes de Carvalho & M. S. Núncio

  3. Departamento de Biodiversidade, Evolução e Meio Ambiente, Instituto de Ciências Exatas e Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    D. N. C. Lobato & Y. Antonini

  4. Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    E. M. Braga & G. Lacorte

  5. Laboratory of Eco-epidemiology of Parasites, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    L. Gern

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  1. A. C. Norte
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  2. D. N. C. Lobato
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  3. E. M. Braga
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  8. L. Gern
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Correspondence to A. C. Norte.

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Norte, A.C., Lobato, D.N.C., Braga, E.M. et al. Do ticks and Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. constitute a burden to birds?. Parasitol Res 112, 1903–1912 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3343-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3343-1

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