droopyyoupi , borréliose de lyme : transmission to a vertebrate host is dependent on the order that the tick acquires the bacteria

transmission to a vertebrate host is dependent on the order that the tick acquires the bacteria

"In the lab, scientists often study just one strain of a tick-borne pathogen at a time. But we know that in nature, ticks feed on different types of animals and may pick up more than one disease-causing organism. How do these interplay?"

"In an interesting new study, researchers experimented by coinfecting ticks with two different isolates of the relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia hermsii. They not only found that dual infections can persist in ticks but that transmission to a vertebrate host is dependent on the order that the tick acquires the bacteria! Even the time between acquisition and transmission made a difference."

"If there are such variations in a laboratory setting when just two isolates of the same type are involved, imagine how transmission may be helped or hindered by various strains of the other tick-borne disease pathogens that exist. What happens in a lab setting can't always prove what may be occurring in nature."

http://iai.asm.org/content/early/2013/05/21/IAI.00542-13.abstract?sid=bd62823e-638e-4fe8-9f13-e2668b0a6ec5

Borrelia hermsii acquisition order in superinfected ticks determines transmission efficiency