Dataset Information

Mammal diversity and infection prevalence in the maintenance of enzootic Borrelia burgdorferi along the western Coastal Plains of Maryland.

ABSTRACT: The primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi in North America, Ixodes scapularis, feeds on various mammalian, avian, and reptilian hosts. Several small mammal hosts; Peromyscus leucopus, Tamias striatus, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and Blarina spp. can serve as reservoirs in an enzootic cycle of Lyme disease. The primary reservoir in the northeast United States is the white-footed mouse, P. leucopus. The infection prevalence of this reservoir as well as the roles of potential secondary reservoirs has not been established in southern Maryland, a region of low to moderate Borrelia infection in humans. Intensive trapping at 96 locations throughout the western Coastal Plains of Maryland was conducted and we found that 31.6% of P. leucopus were infected with B. burgdorferi. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis revealed that only B. burgdorferi sensu stricto circulated in southern Maryland. Feral house mice and voles also were infected and may serve as secondary hosts. Peromyscus gender, age and month of capture were significantly associated with infection status. Larval I. scapularis were the dominant ectoparasite collected from captured rodents even though host seeking A. americanum and D. variabilis were collected in greater numbers across the sampling region. Our findings illustrate that the enzootic cycle of LD is maintained in the western Coastal Plains region of southern Maryland between I. scapularis and P. leucopus as the dominant reservoir.

SUBMITTER: Anderson JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4128254 | biostudies-literature | 2006

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mammal diversity and infection prevalence in the maintenance of enzootic Borrelia burgdorferi along the western Coastal Plains of Maryland.

Anderson Jennifer M JM Swanson Katherine I KI Schwartz Timothy R TR Glass Gregory E GE Norris Douglas E DE

Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) 20060101 4

The primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi in North America, Ixodes scapularis, feeds on various mammalian, avian, and reptilian hosts. Several small mammal hosts; Peromyscus leucopus, Tamias striatus, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and Blarina spp. can serve as reservoirs in an enzootic cycle of Lyme disease. The primary reservoir in the northeast United States is the white-footed mouse, P. leucopus. The infection prevalence of this reservoir as well as the roles of potential secondary reservoirs has ...[more]

PMID: 17187577

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Project description:In the northeastern U.S., Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the agent of Lyme disease, is maintained between vertebrate hosts and subadult deer ticks (the northern clade of Ixodes scapularis, formerly known as Ixodes dammini). Theoretical arguments suggest that the force of transmission would be greatest when infected nymphal ticks focus their bites on the same host as the uninfected larvae. Stage-specific differences in host utilization would reduce the force of transmission, but to date such differences remain understudied. We determined the host utilization differences of larval and nymphal deer ticks using bloodmeal analysis of host-seeking nymphs and adults collected from 5 field sites in New England. Matched cohorts of ticks (nymphs=506, adults=451), i.e. ticks that had fed during the same summer season, were used to control for yearly host population variations. Infection status of all ticks was determined by real time PCR. Nymphal deer ticks were more likely to have fed on birds and sciurids (13% vs 3%, and 41% vs 9%, respectively p<0.001) and larvae were more likely to have fed on shrews (26% vs 3%, p<0.001). Similarly, ticks that had fed on a mouse or a shrew as larvae were likely to become infected (OR= 3.195, 95% CI [1.9, 5.1] and OR=2.5[1.6,3.8] respectively), and they were positively associated with infection prevalence at our sites. However, very few nymphs fed on shrews, and they were not associated with infection, raising the question of how uninfected shrews acquire infection each year. Sciurids did not appear to contribute to the enzootic cycle at our sites, which may be due to the low numbers of larvae that fed on them. Sciurid-fed ticks of either stage were not associated with infection. Both stages of ticks were less likely to be infected if they had fed on deer (OR=0.08 [0.02.0.3] and OR=0.4 [0.2,0.7] tested as nymphs and adults, respectively) and thus deer likely served to reduce the force of transmission at our sites. Site-specific analysis of differential host utilization by subadult deer ticks may contribute to appropriate targeting of interventions and thereby promote reducing risk of acquiring Lyme disease and the other deer tick-transmitted infections.

Dataset Information

Mammal diversity and infection prevalence in the maintenance of enzootic Borrelia burgdorferi along the western Coastal Plains of Maryland.

Publications

Mammal diversity and infection prevalence in the maintenance of enzootic Borrelia burgdorferi along the western Coastal Plains of Maryland.

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