Use of emerging technology allowing for identification of genetic material from pathogens and endosymbionts in ticks collected from humans, domestic animals, wildlife, or the environment has resulted in an avalanche of new data on tick-microorganism associations. This rapidly growing stream of new information is a tremendous resource but also presents challenges, including how detection of pathogen genetic material in ticks should best be interpreted. There is a tendency in the more recent published literature to incorrectly use the term “vector” based on detection of pathogen genetic material from tick species not experimentally confirmed to serve as vectors of the pathogen in question. To serve as a vector of a horizontally maintained pathogen, such as a Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) Lyme borreliosis spirochete, the tick species in question must be capable of acquiring the pathogen while feeding in the larval or nymphal stage on an infectious host, maintaining it transstadially through the molt, and then transmitting the pathogen to a naïve host while feeding in the subsequent nymphal or adult stage. This review examines the experimental evidence for and against species of hard (ixodid) ticks from different genera to serve as vectors of B. burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes. Of the 18 Ixodes species ticks evaluated to date, 13 were experimentally confirmed as vectors of B. burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes. These studies focused primarily on the three major Lyme borreliosis agents: Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia afzelii, and Borrelia garinii. In striking contrast, none of 8 tick species from other genera (1 Amblyomma species, 5 Dermacentor species, and 2 Haemaphysalis species) evaluated to date were unequivocally experimentally confirmed as vectors of B. burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes. The strength of the evidence for or against each tick species to serve as a vector of B. burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes is discussed together with key knowledge gaps and research challenges.

新兴技术的使用允许从从人类、家畜、野生动物或环境中收集的蜱中的病原体和内共生体中识别遗传物质，从而产生了大量关于蜱-微生物关联的新数据。这种快速增长的新信息流是一种巨大的资源，但也带来了挑战，包括如何最好地解释蜱中病原体遗传物质的检测。在最近发表的文献中，有一种趋势是错误地使用术语“载体”，这是基于从蜱种中检测到的病原体遗传物质，未经实验证实可作为相关病原体的载体。作为水平保持病原体的载体，例如伯氏疏螺旋体sensu lato (sl) Lyme borreliosis spirochete，所讨论的蜱种必须能够在感染宿主的幼虫或若虫阶段进食时获得病原体，通过蜕皮保持跨体，然后将病原体传播给幼稚宿主在随后的若虫或成虫阶段进食时。这篇综述检查了支持和反对来自不同属的硬蜱（ixodid）作为B. burgdorferi sl 螺旋体载体的实验证据。的18个的硬蜱物种蜱评价迄今为止，13进行了实验证实的载体包氏螺旋体SL螺旋体。这些研究主要集中在三种主要的莱姆疏螺旋体病病原体上：伯氏疏螺旋体sensu stricto、Borrelia afzelii和Borrelia garinii。与此形成鲜明对比的是，迄今为止评估的来自其他属的 8 种蜱种（1种Amblyomma种、5种Dermacentor种和 2种Haemaphysalis种）均未通过实验明确证实为B. burgdorferi sl 螺旋体的载体。支持或反对每个蜱种作为B. burgdorferi sl 螺旋体载体的证据强度与关键知识差距和研究挑战一起讨论。