Table 5.

Representation of genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. among different groups of Ixodes ricinus hosts.

	Rodents	Artiodactyls	Birds
B. burgdorferi s.s.	33.3%	33.3%	0.0%
	(7/21)	(10/30)	(0/2)
B. afzelii	33.3%	33.3%	0.0%
	(7/21)	(10/30)	(0/2)
B. garinii	19.1%	10.0%	50.0%*
	(4/21)	(3/30)	(1/2)
B. valaisiana	0%	6.7%	0.0%
	(0/21)	(2/30)	(0/2)
B. lusitaniae	9.5%	3.3%	0%
	(2/21)	(1/30)	(0/2)
B. garinii + B. valaisiana	4.8%	6.7%	50%
	(1/21)	(2/30)	(1/2)
B. burgdorferi s.s. + B. afzeliiB. afzelii	0%	3.3%	0%
	(0/21)	(1/30)	(0/2)
B. valaisana + B. lusitaniae	0%	3.3%	0%
	(0/21)	(1/30)	(0/2)

Number of positive samples of a genospecies/total number B. burgdorferi s.l. positive ticks fed on particular host are reported. ‘*’ indicates that higher frequency of B. garinii occurrence among bird fed ticks compared to other hosts is statistically significant (P < 0.05).