RESEARCH PAPER
Comprehensive surveillance of the antibody response to Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in small ruminants in China
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Hong Yin 1,2
 
 
 
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1
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, P. R. China
 
2
Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, P. R. China
 
 
Ann Agric Environ Med. 2015;22(2):208-211
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the etiological agent of Lyme disease, is tick transmitted and has a wide range of mammalian reservoirs in nature, including both wild and domestic animals. To understand the seroprevalence of B. burgdorferi s.l. in small ruminants will add value to the risk analysis of Lyme disease. The current study was intended to map the potential endemic regions of Lyme disease by large-scale investigation of sera from sheep and goats. In this study, a total of 2,758 serum samples from sheep and goats in 21 provinces located in 40 different districts of China were tested for antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.l. by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results of this survey indicated that the overall prevalence of B. burgdorferi s.l. infection ranges from 5.3 to 63.5 % (mean: 26.3%), and the infection was found in all provinces investigated. Generally, the positive rate declined from the south (34.7% in south and 32.4% in southwest) towards the north of China (18.4% in north, 16.5% in northeast and 17.2% in northwest). A significant difference was also observed in the infection rate between south and north (33.2% versus 17.4%, P<0.001). This study presents a comprehensive investigation of the serological distribution of B. burgdorferi s.l. in small ruminants in China.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study was supported financially by Chinese projects, including Supporting Plan (2013BAD12B03), 973 Program (2010CB530206), NSFC(№31272556; №31101621, № 31072130, №31001061), ‘948’ (2013-S6), NBCITS (CARS-38), Specific Fund for Sino-Europe Cooperation, MOST, China, State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology Project (SKLVEB2008ZZKT019); The research was also facilitated by EPIZONE (FOOD-CT-2006–016236), and PIROVAC (KBBE- 3–245145) of the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium.
 
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