Bødker, Rene

Chriél, Mariann

Højgaard, Jesper

Isbrand, Anastasia

Kjær, Lene Jung

Madsen, Jesper J.

Schou, Kirstine Klitgaard

Thorup, Kasper

Vrbová, Erika

Since the end of the ice age, spring migrating birds from Africa and Europe and autumn migrating birds from Northern Scandinavia have entered Denmark, and recently a small wave of long migrating carnivores have started arriving in Denmark from Central Europe. Theoretically, migrating birds could introduce new tick species as well as tick-associated pathogens to Denmark. These migrating animals may also carry ticks and pathogens which already exist in native tick populations in Denmark. The potential supplement of native ticks and existing pathogens to the established high density tick populations in Danish forest and nature areas can be expected to be of little practical importance. However, some of the infected ticks, introduced by migrating birds, may be deposited in private gardens and public parks that are otherwise not able to sustain a viable tick population. Migrating birds may therefore introduce a low level risk of tick borne infections to urban areas. Also the recent unexpected wave of long migrating golden jackals (Canis aureus) and grey wolves (Canis lupus), arriving at the Danish peninsula of Jutland, constitutes an emerging risk of introduction of especially Dermacentor spp ticks and their associated pathogens from Germany and Central Europe. Here, we present the results of screening migrating birds and a golden jackal for ticks as well as ticks collected by flagging in selected urban areas in Denmark. The collected ticks were screened for exotic tick species and 38 different tick borne pathogens. We show that the risk is not just theoretical and we suggest that these introductions may have a practical public health impact.Since the end of the ice age, spring migrating birds from Africa and Europe and autumn migrating birds from Northern Scandinavia have entered Denmark, and recently a small wave of long migrating carnivores have started arriving in Denmark from Central Europe. Theoretically, migrating birds could introduce new tick species as well as tick-associated pathogens to Denmark. These migrating animals may also carry ticks and pathogens which already exist in native tick populations in Denmark. The potential supplement of native ticks and existing pathogens to the established high density tick populations in Danish forest and nature areas can be expected to be of little practical importance. However, some of the infected ticks, introduced by migrating birds, may be deposited in private gardens and public parks that are otherwise not able to sustain a viable tick population. Migrating birds may therefore introduce a low level risk of tick borne infections to urban areas. Also the recent unexpected wave of long migrating golden jackals (Canis aureus) and grey wolves (Canis lupus), arriving at the Danish peninsula of Jutland, constitutes an emerging risk of introduction of especially Dermacentor spp ticks and their associated pathogens from Germany and Central Europe. Here, we present the results of screening migrating birds and a golden jackal for ticks as well as ticks collected by flagging in selected urban areas in Denmark. The collected ticks were screened for exotic tick species and 38 different tick borne pathogens. We show that the risk is not just theoretical and we suggest that these introductions may have a practical public health impact

Bødker, René

Copenhagen University Research Information System

Migrating birds and carnivores introduce ticks and tick borne pathogens to Denmark – but are they also a public health risk?

Since the end of the ice age, spring migrating birds from Africa and Europe and autumn migrating birds from Northern Scandinavia have entered Denmark, and recently a small wave of long migrating carnivores have started arriving in Denmark from Central Europe. Theoretically, migrating birds could introduce new tick species as well as tick-associated pathogens to Denmark. These migrating animals may also carry ticks and pathogens which already exist in native tick populations in Denmark. The potential supplement of native ticks and existing pathogens to the established high density tick populations in Danish forest and nature areas can be expected to be of little practical importance. However, some of the infected ticks, introduced by migrating birds, may be deposited in private gardens and public parks that are otherwise not able to sustain a viable tick population. Migrating birds may therefore introduce a low level risk of tick borne infections to urban areas. Also the recent unexpected wave of long migrating golden jackals (Canis aureus) and grey wolves (Canis lupus), arriving at the Danish peninsula of Jutland, constitutes an emerging risk of introduction of especially Dermacentor spp ticks and their associated pathogens from Germany and Central Europe. Here, we present the results of screening migrating birds and a golden jackal for ticks as well as ticks collected by flagging in selected urban areas in Denmark. The collected ticks were screened for exotic tick species and 38 different tick borne pathogens. We show that the risk is not just theoretical and we suggest that these introductions may have a practical public health impact

Online Research Database In Technology

                       General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.  • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal   If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.     Downloaded from orbit.dtu.dk on: Apr 20, 2018Migrating birds and carnivores introduce ticks and tick borne pathogens to Denmark –but  are they  also  a public  health risk?Bødker, Rene; Vrbová, Erika; Højgaard, Jesper ; Madsen, Jesper J.; Thorup, Kasper; Kjær, Lene Jung;Chriél, Mariann; Isbrand, Anastasia; Schou, Kirstine KlitgaardPublication date:2018Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink back to DTU OrbitCitation (APA):Bødker, R., Vrbová, E., Højgaard, J., Madsen, J. J., Thorup, K., Kjær, L. J., ... Schou, K. K. (2018). Migratingbirds and carnivores introduce ticks and tick borne pathogens to Denmark –  but  are they  also  a public  healthrisk?. Abstract from NordTick 2018, Åland, Finland.Title: Migrating birds and carnivores introduce ticks and tick borne pathogens to Denmark – but are they also a public health risk? Authors and affiliation: René Bødkerac, Erika Vrbováa, Jesper Højgaarda, Jesper J. Madsenb, Kasper Thorupb, Lene Jung Kjæra Mariann Chriéla, Anastasia Isbranda and Kirstine Klitgaarda aNational Veterinary Institute, Kemitorvet, building 202, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. bNational History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Østervoldgade 5-7, DK-1350 Copenhagen K.  cCorresponding author: rebo@vet.dtu.dk  Introduction: Since the end of the ice age, spring migrating birds from Africa and Europe and autumn migrating birds from Northern Scandinavia have entered Denmark, and recently a small wave of long migrating carnivores have started arriving in Denmark from Central Europe. Theoretically, migrating birds could introduce new tick species as well as tick-associated pathogens to Denmark. These migrating animals may also carry ticks and pathogens which already exist in native tick populations in Denmark. The potential supplement of native ticks and existing pathogens to the established high density tick populations in Danish forest and nature areas can be expected to be of little practical importance. However, some of the infected ticks, introduced by migrating birds, may be deposited in private gardens and public parks that are otherwise not able to sustain a viable tick population. Migrating birds may therefore introduce a low level risk of tick borne infections to urban areas. Also the recent unexpected wave of long migrating golden jackals (Canis aureus) and grey wolves (Canis lupus), arriving at the Danish peninsula of Jutland, constitutes an emerging risk of introduction of especially Dermacentor spp ticks and their associated pathogens from Germany and Central Europe. Here, we present the results of screening migrating birds and a golden jackal for ticks as well as ticks collected by flagging in selected urban areas in Denmark. The collected ticks were screened for exotic tick species and 38 different tick borne pathogens. We show that the risk is not just theoretical and we suggest that these introductions may have a practical public health impact. Material and methods: 1. Ticks collected from birds captured in mist nets at Danish bird ringing stations during the spring and autumn migration of 2016. 2. Ticks collected from a newly dead golden jackal from northern Jutland 2017. 3. Ticks collected in 2016 by flagging in 14 city parks in Copenhagen and 13 Copenhagen suburban recreational areas. All the ticks were tested individually for tick species, bacteria and parasites using Real-time PCR.   Results: We captured 807 birds during the spring and autumn migration. We found 180 larvae and nymphs of Ixodes ricinus ticks, but no exotic ticks were found on migrating birds. Of the 180 I .ricinus ticks, 61% were positive for at least one pathogen, but none of the pathogens were new to Denmark. One golden jackal from northern Jutland harbored 21 male Dermacentor reticulatus ticks, a tick species not previously recorded on Danish wild life. Eighteen of these ticks were positive for Rickettsia raoultii, a zoonotic pathogen not previously recorded in Scandinavia. We collected 641 ticks in 31 hours from urban and suburban areas, showing that questing ticks are abundant in Copenhagen urban and suburban parks. Female ticks were found in 19% of the sites. Nymphs were collected from 30% of the sites. Larvae were found at just 11% of the sites. Twenty percent of the urban nymphs were positive for Borrelia s.l.  Discussion/conclusions: Migrating birds transport ticks and pathogens to Denmark. Here we only found ticks and pathogens already present in Denmark. The additional supplement of infected ticks to Danish forests is expected to have little additional impact since the Danish tick abundance and pathogens prevalence in forest areas is already high. However, the observed relative scarcity of tick larvae in urban areas suggest that urban tick populations may not be viable populations and therefore partly be dependent on a constant influx of tick from other areas. Migrating birds may potentially be a significant source of infected ticks in urban areas. The high number of I. ricinus ticks found on migrating birds suggests that bird migration may also constitute a risk of introducing new tick species and pathogens. But this risk may have existed for thousands of years. The recent wave of migrating carnivores is however a new and very real risk of introducing infected Dermacentor spp ticks to Denmark. References: Klitgaard K, Chriél M, Isbrand A, Jensen TK, Bødker R. Identification of Dermacentor reticulatus Ticks Carrying Rickettsia raoultii on Migrating Jackal, Denmark. Emerg Infect Dis. 2017;23(12):2072-2074. https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2312.170919 Funding: The study was funded by the ScandTick Innovation project, EU Regional Development Programme InterReg OKS and by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, Ministry of Environment and Food Denmark. 

http://orbit.dtu.dk/ws/files/146463292/Nordick_NordTick_Abstract_Rene_B_dker_DTU_For_oral_pressentation_on_session_1_i_samverkan_med_ScandTick_Innovation_tisdag_10_april.pdf

Migrating birds and carnivores introduce ticks and tick borne pathogens to Denmark – but are they also a public health risk?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Copenhagen University Research Information System

Online Research Database In Technology