Parasitic Organisms in the Blood of Arvicoline Rodents in Alaska

Fay, Francis H.; Rausch, Robert L.

doi:10.2307/3277271

Cited by 46 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Ixodes angustus has been reported as a competent vector of the agent that causes Lyme borreliosis, Borrelia burgdorferi (Banerjee et al 1994;Peavey et al 2000), though it rarely bites humans. Fay and Rausch (1969) first reported this tick to transmit what was later shown to be a strain of Babesia microti among rodents in Alaska.…”

Section: Ixodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biological Survey of Canada: A Personal History

Danks¹

2017

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Section: Ixodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biological Survey of Canada: A Personal History

Danks¹

2017

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“…This parasite is the causative agent of human babesiosis (8,12,30), an emerging tick-bone zoonosis which has been increasingly recognized in the northeastern and upper midwestern United States, where both Lyme borreliosis (13) and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (15,19) concomitantly occur due to sharing of the same tick vector and rodent reservoir. The presence of B. microti in various rodent species has been documented throughout the northern temperate zone of North America (4,5,7,29,34), Europe (9,27,33), and Eurasia (25,26,32), but symptomatic human cases have been reported almost exclusively in the United States (12,30). Although the absence of human cases in Europe is ascribed to the strict preference of the vector ticks for rodents as blood-supplying animals (9,12,30), it is not known whether that is also the case in the other regions where B. microti is enzootic but not zoonotic.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Babesiosis in Japan: Epizootiologic Survey of Rodent Reservoir and Isolation of New Type of Babesia microti -Like Parasite

et al. 2001

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We have carried out epizootiologic surveys at various sites in Japan to investigate wild animals that serve as reservoirs for the agents of human babesiosis in the country. Small mammals comprising six species, Apodemus speciosus, Apodemus argenteus, Clethrionomys rufocanus, Eothenomys smithii, Crocidura dsinezumi, and Sorex unguiculatus, were trapped at various places, including Hokkaido, Chiba, Shiga, Hyogo, Shimane, and Tokushima Prefectures. Animals harboring Babesia microti-like parasites were detected in all six prefectures. Inoculation of their blood samples into hamsters gave rise to a total of 20 parasite isolates; 19 were from A. speciosus, and the other 1 was from C. rufocanus. Sequencing of the parasite small-subunit rRNA gene (rDNA) sequence revealed that 2 of the 20 isolates were classified as Kobe type because their rDNAs were identical to that of the Kobe strain (the strain from the Japanese index case). The other 18 isolates were classified as a new type, designated the Hobetsu type, because they all shared an identical rDNA sequence which differed significantly from both that of Kobe-type isolates and that of northeastern United States B. microti (U.S. type). The parasites with Kobe-, Hobetsu-and U.S.-type rDNAs were phylogenetically closely related to each other but clearly different from each other antigenically. The isolates from rodents were demonstrated to be infective for human erythrocytes by inoculation into SCID mice whose erythrocytes had been replaced with human erythrocytes. The results suggest that a new type of B. microti-like parasite, namely, the Hobetsu type, is the major one which is prevalent among Japanese wild rodents, that A. speciosus serves as a major reservoir for both Kobe-and Hobetsu-type B. microti-like parasites, and that C. rufocanus may also be an additional reservoir on Hokkaido Island.

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“…The trypomastigotes found in M. oeconomus were larger than those seen in this host species from Toolik Lake, Alaska (Laakkonen et al, 2002), but similar in size and other morphological characteristics to trypomastigotes of M. oeconomus from Lower Ugashik Lake, Alaska Peninsula (Fay and Rausch, 1969). The trypomastigotes of lemmings appear to be slightly larger, and to have longer flagella than those of Microtus spp.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…in Alaskan rodents consists of only a few reports on wild rodents (Quay, 1955;Fay and Rausch, 1969;Laakkonen et al, 2002) and of 1 on the introduced Rattus norvegicus (Schiller, 1956). Of wild rodents, trypanosomes have been detected in a few Dicrostonyx torquatus (Quay, 1955) but not in any of the few Microtus pennsylvanicus and Synaptomys borealis examined for blood parasites (Quay 1955;Laakkonen et al, 2002; Table I).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%