Niche partitioning of Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi in the tick
By Linda on Dec 30, 2009 in Infections
The Lyme borreliosis agent Borrelia burgdorferi and the relapsing fever group
species Borrelia miyamotoi co-occur in the United States. We used
species-specific, quantitative polymerase chain reaction to study both species
in the blood and skin of Peromyscus leucopus mice and host-seeking Ixodes
scapularis nymphs at a Connecticut site. Bacteremias with B. burgdorferi or B.
miyamotoi were most prevalent during periods of greatest activity for nymphs or
larvae, respectively. Whereas B. burgdorferi was 30-fold more frequent than B.
miyamotoi in skin biopsies and mice had higher densities of B. burgdorferi
densities in the skin than in the blood, B. miyamotoi densities were higher in
blood than skin. In a survey of host-seeking nymphs in 11 northern states,
infection prevalences for B. burgdorferi and B. miyamotoi averaged approximately
0.20 and approximately 0.02, respectively. Co-infections of P. leucopus or I.
scapularis with both B. burgdorferi and B. miyamotoi were neither more nor less
common than random expectations.
Publication Types:
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t
Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.
http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=19996447&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
PMID: 19996447 [PubMed – in process]
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009 Dec;81(6):1120-31.
Niche partitioning of Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia miyamotoi in the same
tick vector and mammalian reservoir species.
Barbour AG, Bunikis J, Travinsky B, Hoen AG, Diuk-Wasser MA, Fish D, Tsao JI.
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California
Irvine, Irvine, California 92697-4028, USA. abarbour@uci.edu
