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Updated: Oct 7, 2025
Feeding of Ticks on Animals for Transmission and Xenodiagnosis in Lyme Disease Research
Published on: August 31, 2013
Evaluation of two artificial infection methods of live ticks as tools for studying interactions between tick-borne
Camille Victoire Migné1,2, Vaclav Hönig3,4, Sarah Irène Bonnet1,5
1Anses, INRAE, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, UMR BIPAR, Laboratoire de Santé Animale, 94700, Maisons-Alfort, France.
Abstract:
Up to 170 tick-borne viruses (TBVs) have been identified to date. However, there is a paucity of information regarding TBVs and their interaction with respective vectors, limiting the development of new effective and urgently needed control methods. To overcome this gap of knowledge, it is essential to reproduce transmission cycles under controlled laboratory conditions. In this study we assessed an artificial feeding system (AFS) and an immersion technique (IT) to infect Ixodes ricinus ticks with tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Kemerovo (KEM) virus, both known to be transmitted predominantly by ixodid ticks. Both methods permitted TBEV acquisition by ticks and we further confirmed virus trans-stadial transmission and onward transmission to a vertebrate host. However, only artificial feeding system allowed to demonstrate both acquisition by ticks and trans-stadial transmission for KEMV. Yet we did not observe transmission of KEMV to mice (IFNAR-/- or BALB/c). Artificial infection methods of ticks are important tools to study tick-virus interactions. When optimally used under laboratory settings, they provide important insights into tick-borne virus transmission cycles.
