The purpose of this monitoring is to survey the geographical distribution of tick species using dry ice bait traps and flagging methods at each ten provinces (GangwonⅠ,GangwonⅡ, Gyeonggi, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Gyeongbuk, Gyeongnam, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam and Jeju area) and one Metropolitan area in the Republic of Korea for eight months from April through November, 2016. A total of 65,339 ixodid ticks (8,200 females, 1,988 males, 31,453 nymphs and 23,698 larvae) was collected, belonging to three genera (Haemaphysalis, Ixodes and Amblyomma). Haemaphysalis longicornis was the most commonly collected species, which is represented for 96.88% of all the collected ticks and followed by H. flava (2.69%), I. nipponensis (0.35%), A. testudinarium (0.05%) and H. japonica (0.03%) in the Republic of Korea for the study period. Haemaphysalis longicornis was a dominant species observed in these eleven areas.
We performed a survey for flavivirus infection and distribution of Aedes albopictus that known as Zika and Dengue virus vector using black–light trap and BG-sentinel trap around urban area in Korea. Mosquitoes were collected in 27 cities during March to November (twice a month) year 2016. Total numbers of mosquitoes collected 102,102 including 19 species 8 genera during collecting period. Total 21,467 Ae. albopictus was collected that 20,961(24.3%) by BG-sentinel trap and 506 (3.2%) by Black-light trap in urban area. Trap index(trap/night) of Ae. albopictus was showed highest in Hamyang (TI:992.3) and lowest in Taebaek (TI:0.3) there was only collected by Black-light trap. A total of 894 pools from all collecting Ae. albopictus were performed a Flavivirus detection. Flavivirus was not detected during study period. This study may provide basic information for surveillance of imported diseases (include Zika virus) and vectors in Korea.
The Ixodid ticks has been suspected to be the vector of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in Korea. In order to confirm transovarial transmission of Ixodid ticks, a total of blood fed 284 ticks were collected from six host animals. They were identified as 3 genera and 4 species, Haemaphysalis longicornis (97.2%), H. flava (0.7%), Ixodes nipponensis (1.8%) and Amblyomma testudinarium (0.4%). Among them, 192 female adults hatched their eggs successfully. Our results showed a high prevalence of SFTSV among collected ticks (3.1%, 6/192 ticks), and we detected SFTSV from their larvae. This result suggests that the parent generation of H. longicornis can transmit SFTSV transovarially into their F1 progeny and H. longicornis might be one of major vectors of SFTSV in Korea.
Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging tick-borne zoonosis and SFTS virus is transmitted to humans by tick bites. The aim of this study was to monitor tick population and its SFTS virus infection. During March 2014 to October 2015, ticks were monthly sampled using dry-ice bait trap and flag method from 4 collecting points in Boeun-gun. A total of 16,500 ticks, including 14,646 Haemaphysalis longicornis (88.7%), 1,825 H. flava (11.1%), and 29 Ixodes nipponensis (0.2%), were collected. Ticks were pooled (5,156 ticks in 456 pools) and tested by RT-PCR and nested PCR and the minimum infection rate of ticks was 0.27% (14 pools) consisting of 0.13% H. longicornis (6 pools), 1.19% H. flava (8 pools). This annual surveillance study will be needed for long-term monitoring of ixodid ticks in Korea.
Ixodid ticks are notorious as the vector of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) in Korea. To confirm the transovarial transmission of SFTSV, we collected blood-fed adult ticks from animals in SFTS case reported area of Jeju island in 2015. A total of 476 ticks were collected from four host animal species, horse (81.3%), dog (9.0%), roe deer (7.1%) and wild boar (2.5%). They were identified as 1 genus and 2 species, Haemaphysalis longicornis (87.8%) and H. flava (12.2%). Among them, 131 adults hatched their eggs successfully. The body weight of females was highly correlated with the number of egg masses laid (P < 0.05). We confirmed that one adult H. flava was infected with SFTSV and its infection rate was 0.77%. The eggs of the SFTSV-infected adults also were infected with SFTSV and its transovarial transmission was confirmed. This result suggests that the parent generation of H. flava could transmit SFTSV transovarially into their F1 progeny and H. flava might be one of major vectors of SFTSV in Korea.
We investigated the distribution of ixodid ticks in severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) case reported areas using flagging method from May to November 2014 in Korea. We collected 13,471 ixodid ticks with 2 genera and 3 species. Among them, Genus Haemaphysalis and Ixodes accounted for 99.9% (13,455) and 0.1% (16), respectively. Genus Haemaphysalis consisted of 2 species, H. longicornis (96.2%) and H. flava (3.7%). I. nipponensis was only collected in Genus Ixodes. H. longicornis was the dominant species (over 90%) in most study areas. Ixodid ticks were evenly distributed at various environmental sites, such as residences, hills, grassfields, fields, graves, copses, other sites. The further study on SFTSV infection in ixodid ticks will be needed.
Trombiculid mites are known to be the vector of scrub typhus by transmitting rickettsial pathogen, Orientia tsutsugamushi, to human. In this study, we tried to establish a monitoring system for trombiculid mites using chigger mite collecting traps instead of the conventional rodent-capture method. For selection of collecting points, 10 environmental points were chosen from three regions (Taean, Jinan and Chungju) and two field collections were performed in spring (March-May) and autumn (October-November) seasons from 2013 to 2014. Among 10 environmental points, waterway (37.9%), grass field (28.0%), rice field and field near mountain side (11.4%) and reservoir/wet field (7.3%) showed high collecting rates and they should be included for the representative collecting points for surveillance using chigger mite collecting trap. In order to test the possibility that the dried chigger mites from collecting trap can be used for detection of O. tsutsugamushi, we pooled 30, 10 and 5 chigger mites separately and performed the nested PCR. The infection of O. tsutsugamushi was successfully detected from 5 chigger mites pooling sample. This study shows that chigger mite collecting trap could be an alternative method for monitoring system of scrub typhus vectors.
This study was conducted to improve and supplement the system of cryopreservation for adventitious bulbs induced by tissue cultured bulb-scales of lily (Lilium spp.) cvs. ‘Milky way’. The explants, bulblets and bulb-scale-bulblets, were treated to low temperature (4℃) for 7 days prior to the pre-culture. The adventitious bulbs were pre-cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) liquid medium supplemented with sucrose (0.3 and 0.7M). The pre-cultured adventitious bulbs were treated to loading solution (LS1 or LS2, C4 or C6) containing 35% of PVS3 (LS1, C4) or 40% of PVS3 (LS2, C6) for 40 min and exposed to dehydration solution (PVS3, B1) containing 50% glycerol and 50% sucrose for 60 min at 25℃. The adventitious bulbs were moved onto droplets containing 3 μl PVS3 on sterilized aluminum foils, and then soaked into liquid nitrogen (LN) for 60 min. The result of highest regrowth rate as 65.7% was obtained in cold treatment (4℃), osmoprotected with LS1 solution, and cultured in PCM3 medium by using bulb-scale-bulblet for cryopreservation. This result shows that droplet-vitrification could be used as a promising method for long-term storage of lily genetic resource.