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Effects of stress exposure in captivity on physiology and infection in avian hosts: no evidence of increased Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infectivity to vector ticks

  • Host Microbe Interactions
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Abstract

Exposure to environmental stressors, an increasingly recurring event in natural communities due to anthropogenic-induced environmental change, profoundly impacts disease emergence and spread. One mechanism through which this occurs is through stress-induced immunosuppression increasing disease susceptibility, prevalence, intensity and reactivation in hosts. We experimentally evaluated how exposure to stressors affected both the physiology of avian hosts and the prevalence of the zoonotic bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), in two model species—the blackbird Turdus merula and the robin Erithacus rubecula captured in the wild, using xenodiagnoses and analysis of skin biopsies and blood. Although exposure to stressors in captivity induced physiological stress in birds (increased the number of circulating heterophils), there was no evidence of increased infectivity to xenodiagnostic ticks. However, Borrelia detection in the blood for both experimental groups of blackbirds was higher by the end of the captivity period. The infectivity and efficiency of transmission were higher for blackbirds than robins. When comparing different methodologies to determine infection status, xenodiagnosis was a more sensitive method than skin biopsies and blood samples, which could be attributed to mild levels of infection in these avian hosts and/or dynamics and timing of Borrelia infection relapses and redistribution in tissues.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request

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Acknowledgements

We thank Camilo Carneiro, Afonso Rocha, João Gameiro da Silva, Estela Marques and Maria Clara Martins for help with fieldwork and maintenance of birds in captivity. Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e Florestas IP, Central Nacional de Anilhagem, Mata Nacional do Choupal and Tapada Nacional de Mafra provided conditions for fieldwork and bird ringing.

Funding

This study received financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia by the strategic programme of MARE (MARE - UID/MAR/04292/2020) and the fellowship (SFRH/BPD/108197/2015) and transitory norm contract DL57/2016/CP1370/CT89 to ACN, and the Portuguese National Institute of Health. PMA was funded by an investigator contract from the project “PTDC/BIA-EVL/31569/2017 - NORTE -01-0145- FEDER-30288,” co-funded by NORTE2020 through Portugal 2020 and FEDER Funds, and by National Funds through FCT; RJL was funded by national funds (Transitory Norm contract DL57/2016/CP1440/CT0006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, MARE-Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3000-456, Coimbra, Portugal

    A. C. Norte, P. M. Araújo, H. Guímaro, S. Santos & J. A. Ramos

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

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

  3. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO-InBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    P. M. Araújo & R. J. Lopes

  4. Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal

    L. Augusto

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  9. I. Lopes de Carvalho
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Contributions

ACN, JAR and ILC conceived and designed the study. ACN and PMA performed the experiments and analysed the data. ACN, ILC, LA, HG, SS and RJL collected data and performed laboratory work. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to A. C. Norte.

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The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional guides on the care and use of laboratory animals and were performed under licence of the competent authorities (Licence No. 694/2016/CAPT and No. 10/2017/CAPT).

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Norte, A.C., Araújo, P.M., Augusto, L. et al. Effects of stress exposure in captivity on physiology and infection in avian hosts: no evidence of increased Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infectivity to vector ticks. Microb Ecol 83, 202–215 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01738-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01738-3

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