Laboratory Analyses

The disease is not caused by the ticks themselves, but by the bacteria and viruses that the ticks carry. We therefore look for these bacteria in the tick samples obtained using molecular biology methods. In particular, we focus on the bacteria causing Lyme disease (bacteria from the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex), and the related Borrelia myiamotoi from the group of Borrelia causing relapsing fevers, the bacteria causing human granulocytic anaplasmosis (formerly ehrlichiosis) (Anaplasma phagocytophilum), the tick-borne bacteria of the genus Rickettsia causing rickettsioses and the causative agent of neoehrlichiosis (Neoehrlichia mikuresis).

How do we look for these bacteria?

In short, the genetic information (DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid) of everything in the tick (including the DNA of the tick itself) is isolated from the tick and only the DNA of the bacteria being studied is specifically amplified from this mixture. The (q)PCR method is used for this analysis, similar to the testing for the virus causing COVID-19. Based on the result of the PCR analysis, we are then able to tell which tick carried which bacteria, but also how many were present in a given tick.