Cattle grazing has been suggested to reduce the risk for Lyme borreliosis by decreasing the density of questing Ixodes ricinus infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. We tested the hypotheses that cattle grazing used in woodland management decreases the density of questing I. ricinus, and that it decreases the nympal infection prevalence of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. We further expected the nympal infection prevalence of tick-borne pathogens that utilize cattle as amplifying hosts, namely Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia sensu stricto, to increase. To test these hypotheses, we compared the densities of questing I. ricinus between twenty pairs of plots in grazed and ungrazed forest areas. The density of I. ricinus adults, but not nymphs, was lower in areas grazed by cattle than in ungrazed areas. Nymphs were tested for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., Borrelia miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Babesia s.s. DNA from twelve paired areas. Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia s.s. from qPCR-positive tick lysates were identified further to the ecotype and species level, respectively, by DNA sequencing. The infection prevalence of A. phagocytophilum was lower, and infection prevalence of Babesia s.s., identified as Babesia venatorum, was higher in grazed areas. In contrast, infection prevalence with B. burgdorferi s.l. or B. miyamotoi did not differ between grazed and ungrazed areas. As a consequence, conventional cattle grazing in forested areas had no effect on the densities of questing nymphs infected with B. burgdorferi s.l. and B. miyamotoi. Similarly, we found no effect of cattle grazing on the density of infected nymphs with B. venatorum. The marked difference in the densities of questing nymphs infected with A. phagocytophilum could potentially be explained by the presence of a higher density of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in ungrazed areas, as the majority of typed A. phagocytophilum from ungrazed areas were the non-zoonotic ecotype II, which is associated with roe deer.

牛吃草已建议通过降低追问的密度，以减少莱姆疏螺旋体病的风险篦子硬蜱感染莱姆病螺旋体意义上拉托。我们测试的假设是用于放牧牛在林地管理降低追问的密度一种，蓖麻，而且它减少的nympal感染率B.螺旋体意义上拉托。我们进一步预期的利用牛作为放大主机，即蜱传病原体nympal感染率无形体吞噬细胞，和巴贝斯虫属狭义，增加。为了检验这些假设，我们比较了询问蓖麻毒菌的密度。在放牧和未夷林地区的二十对地块之间。密度I.蓖麻成年人，但不是若虫，较低的地区放牧被牛比ungrazed地区。测试了若虫在十二个配对区域中是否存在伯氏疏螺旋体，宫本疏螺旋体，吞噬性无浆膜和巴贝氏菌单核DNA。通过DNA测序进一步从qPCR阳性壁虱裂解液中分离出了嗜浆细胞和巴贝氏菌，分别位于生态型和物种水平。的感染流行A.吞噬细胞较低，和感染流行巴贝斯SS，经鉴定为放牧的巴贝斯虫（Babesia venatorum）较高。与此相反，感染流行伯氏疏螺旋SL或B. miyamotoi没有放牧和ungrazed区域之间的差异。结果，在森林地区放牧的常规牛对感染了B. burgdorferi sl和B. miyamotoi的若虫的密度没有影响。同样，我们没有发现牲畜放牧对被B. venatorum感染的若虫的密度没有影响。吞噬嗜酸曲霉感染的若虫密度的显着差异可能是由于the的密度较高而引起的（Capreolus capreolus），因为来自未受污染地区的大多数A. phagocytophilum型为非动物生态型II，与with有关。