Spirochaetes in Aedes species, Culex pipiens pipiens larvae and hibernating Culex pipiens molestus mosquitoes detected with dark field microscopy (DFM) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods

Six hundred and fifty two females of four mosquito genera Culex, Aedes, Theobaldia and Anopheles, and 59 larvae of Culex pipiens pipiens were collected either in spring and summer 1999 or in winter 1999/2000 in three localities in the southern and northern Moravia (1. Breclav, 2. Brno-Obrany, 3. Studenka, CZ) and examined by dark field microscopy (DFM) for the presence of spirochaetes. Further accurate detection was proved by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method for the presence of borreliae. Of 341 mosquitoes, spirochaetes were found in 5 positive samples of Aedes sp. in Studenka (northern Moravia), which represent 1.5%. Of 311 mosquitos in Breclav locality, 7 were positive (2.2%). Spirochaetes were also detected in 3 samples of 59 larvae collected in Brno-Obrany (3.0% positivity). By PCR methods were 8 of all 15 DFM positive sample detected to be Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.