ArticleParasites & vectors2016
Comparison of the lifetime host-to-tick transmission between two strains of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia afzelii.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- The First Study ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Differential Impact of Simultaneous or Sequential Coinfections WithInternational journal of microbiology · 2025Article
- Adaptive immunity inApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Vector competence of Ixodes ricinus instars for the transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in different small mammalian hosts.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Variation among strains of Borrelia burgdorferi in host tissue abundance and lifetime transmission determine the population strain structure in nature.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Borrelia burgdorferi strain and host sex influence pathogen prevalence and abundance in the tissues of a laboratory rodent host.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Epizootiological aspects of natural nidality ofVeterinary world · 2022Article
- Borrelia afzelii Infection in the Rodent Host Has Dramatic Effects on the Bacterial Microbiome of Ixodes ricinus Ticks.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2021Article
- Infection with Borrelia afzelii and manipulation of the egg surface microbiota have no effect on the fitness of immature Ixodes ricinus ticks.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Maternal Antibodies Provide Bank Voles with Strain-Specific Protection against Infection by the Lyme Disease Pathogen.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2019Article
- Susceptibility to infection with Borrelia afzelii and TLR2 polymorphism in a wild reservoir host.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Competition between strains ofProceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Identification of Borrelia protein candidates in mouse skin for potential diagnosis of disseminated Lyme borreliosis.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Ticks infected via co-feeding transmission can transmit Lyme borreliosis to vertebrate hosts.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The abundance of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia afzelii declines over time in the tick vector Ixodes ricinus.Parasites & vectors · 2017Article
- Multistrain Infections with Lyme Borreliosis Pathogens in the Tick Vector.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2017Article
- Inefficient co-feeding transmission of Borrelia afzelii in two common European songbirds.Scientific reports · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTransmission from the vertebrate host to the arthropod vector is a critical step in the life-cycle of any vector-borne pathogen. How the probability of host-to-vector transmission changes over the duration of the infection is an important predictor of pathogen fitness. The Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia afzelii is transmitted by Ixodes ricinus ticks and establishes a chronic infection inside rodent reservoir hosts. The present study compares the temporal pattern of host-to-tick transmission between two strains of B. afzelii.
methodsLaboratory mice were experimentally infected via tick bite with one of two strains of B. afzelii: A3 and A10. Mice were repeatedly infested with pathogen-free larval Ixodes ricinus ticks over a period of 4 months. Engorged larval ticks moulted into nymphal ticks that were tested for infection with B. afzelii using qPCR. The proportion of infected nymphs was used to characterize the pattern of host-to-tick transmission over time.
resultsBoth strains of B. afzelii followed a similar pattern of host-to-tick transmission. Transmission decreased from the acute to the chronic phase of the infection by 16.1 and 29.3% for strains A3 and A10, respectively. Comparison between strains found no evidence of a trade-off in transmission between the acute and chronic phase of infection. Strain A10 had higher lifetime fitness and established a consistently higher spirochete load in nymphal ticks than strain A3.
conclusionQuantifying the relationship between host-to-vector transmission and the age of infection in the host is critical for estimating the lifetime fitness of vector-borne pathogens.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.