Original title:
(Arbo)viruses in high European Arctic
Authors:
ELSTEROVÁ, Jana Document type: Rigorous theses
Year:
2016
Language:
eng Abstract:
Since an ongoing climate change covers strongly the polar areas. Higher temperatures and related climate parameters bring the emergence of new parasites and their pathogens to higher latitudes. This may influence zoonotic diseases including arthropod-transmitted diseases. The tick species Ixodes uriae, parasitizing seabirds in the Arctic, may transmit many pathogens including various arboviruses, Borrelia spirochetes and Babesia apicomplexans. In the study we diagnosed 89 individuals of seabird tick Ixodes uriae and searched for arthropod-borne viruses from the genera Flavivirus, Alphavirus, Orthobunyavirus, Phlebovirus and Orbivirus using genus-specific primers. Moreover we searched for presence of Borrelia spp. and Babesia spp. DNA in the ticks. All samples were negative after PCR amplification for all tested pathogens. The result signalizes that tested pathogens might not be present in such high latitudes of European Arctic. Though, the possibility of introduction of these pathogens may be observable in near future due to quick changing of the Arctic ecosystem with the rising of migration of vertebrate hosts including humans to the polar areas. It is though important to continue to study potential presence of pathogens in polar areas. We are working on increase of the number of tick samples to confirm the presence or absence of the tick-borne pathogens in the European Arctic.
Keywords:
Arbovirus; Arctic; Ixodes uriae; Polar Areas; Tick-borne pathogen Citation: ELSTEROVÁ, Jana. (Arbo)viruses in high European Arctic. České Budějovice, 2016. rigorózní práce (RNDr.). JIHOČESKÁ UNIVERZITA V ČESKÝCH BUDĚJOVICÍCH. Přírodovědecká fakulta
Institution: University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
(web)
Document availability information: Fulltext is available in the Digital Repository of University of South Bohemia. Original record: http://www.jcu.cz/vskp/48757