Investigation of the ecology of Soldado virus on Puffin Island, North Wales.

The prevalence of Soldado (SOL) virus and SOL virus antibodies was investigated on immature sea birds and the argasid tick Ornithodoros (Alectorobius) maritimus collected on Puffin Island, North Wales. No SOL virus was recovered from 133 bird sera, but 2 of the birds exhibited neutralizing antibodies against SOL virus. Nine of 27 tick pools (226 individuals) and 34 of 173 ticks tested individually proved to be infected with SOL virus.