Title: Solitary erythema migrans in Georgia and South Carolina.
Authors: Felz MW, Chandler FW Jr, Oliver JH Jr, Rahn DW, Schriefer ME.
Source: Archives of Dermatology. 135(11):1317-26, 1999 Nov.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in humans with erythema migrans (EM) in 2 southeastern states. DESIGN: Prospective case series. SETTING: Family medicine practice at academic center. PATIENTS: Twenty-three patients with solitary EM lesions meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria for Lyme disease. INTERVENTIONS: Patients underwent clinical and serologic evaluation for evidence of B burgdorferi infection. All lesions underwent photography, biopsy, culture and histopathologic and polymerase chain reaction analysis for B burgdorferi infection. Patients were treated with doxycycline hyclate and followed up clinically and serologically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Disappearance of EM lesions and associated clinical symptoms in response to antibiotic therapy; short-term and follow-up serologic assays for diagnostic antibody; growth of spirochetes from tissue biopsy specimens in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly II media; special histopathologic stains of tissue for spirochetes; and polymerase chain reaction assays of tissue biopsy specimens for established DNA sequences of B burgdorferi. RESULTS: The EM lesions ranged from 5 to 20 cm (average, 9.6 cm). Five patients (22%) had mild systemic symptoms. All lesions and associated symptoms resolved with antibiotic therapy. Overall, 7 patients (30%) had some evidence of B burgdorferi infection. Cultures from 1 patient (4%) yielded spirochetes, characterized as Borrelia garinii, a European strain not known to occur in the United States; 3 patients (13%) demonstrated spirochetallike forms on special histologic stains; 5 patients (22%) had positive polymerase chain reaction findings with primers for flagellin DNA sequences; and 2 patients (9%) were seropositive for B burgdorferi infection using recommended 2-step CDC methods. No late clinical sequelae were observed after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The EM lesions we observed are consistent with early Lyme disease occurring elsewhere, but laboratory confirmation of B burgdorferi infection is lacking in at least 16 cases (70%) analyzed using available methods. Genetically variable strains of B burgdorferi, alternative Borrelia species, or novel, uncharacterized infectious agents may account for most of the observed EM lesions.
Authors: Piesman J. Clark KL. Dolan MC. Happ CM. Burkot TR.
Title: Geographic survey of vector ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus) for infection with the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi.
Source: Journal of Vector Ecology. 24(1):91-8, 1999 Jun.
Abstract: Populations of adult Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus, the two principal vectors of Lyme disease spirochetes in the United States, were collected from 17 sites in 12 states. Female ticks were fed on experimental rabbits; ticks and rabbits were subsequently examined for infection with Borrelia burgdorferi. Fourteen rabbits were exposed to I. scapularis ticks from the northeastern states of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland; all 14 rabbits became infected with B. burgdorferi. A total of 165/226 (73%) of these northeastern ticks was infected. Similarly, ticks from the midwestern states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota transmitted infection to all three exposed rabbits; 29/51 (57%) of these midwestern I. scapularis were infected. In marked contrast, none of the 12 rabbits exposed to I. scapularis ticks from the southeastern states of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi acquired infection with B. burgdorferi, and 0/284 (0%) of these ticks contained spirochetes. Four rabbits were exposed to I. pacificus collected from one location in California; 2/4 of these rabbits acquired infection and 2/57 (4%) of the I. pacificus were infected with B. burgdorferi. The antigenic profiles of all 58 strains tested were consistent with an identity of B. burgdorferi sensu lato. The availability of a human Lyme disease vaccine adds urgency to our efforts to calculate the ecological transmission risk throughout the United States, as an aid to the judicious use of such a vaccine.
Authors: Felz MW. Durden LA.
Title: Attachment sites of four tick species (Acari: Ixodidae) parasitizing humans in Georgia and South Carolina.
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 36(3):361-4, 1999 May.
Abstract: From June 1995 through January 1998, 677 tick specimens were submitted by 521 humans from 14 states. Analysis was limited to specimens originating in Georgia and South Carolina, representing 87.3% of total submissions. Attachment sites were specified in 367 specimens (62.3%). The American dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis (Say), a vector of the agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, favored the head and neck in 59% of attached specimens. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (L.), a strongly implicated vector of the agent of human monocytic ehrlichiosis, favored the lower extremities, buttocks, and groin in 54% of specimens. The blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, the main eastern vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, had widely distributed attachment sites with no apparent site preference. The Gulf Coast tick, A. maculatum Koch, parasitized humans in too few instances for analysis. In the southeastern United States, prevention of tick bites and tickborne illnesses such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease may be enhanced by personal practices and public health measures based on knowledge of preferred attachment sites of potentially infectious tick species.
Authors: Durden LA. McLean RG. Oliver JH Jr. Ubico SR. James AM.
Title: Ticks, Lyme disease spirochetes, trypanosomes, and antibody to encephalitis viruses in wild birds from coastal Georgia and South Carolina.
Source: Journal of Parasitology. 83(6):1178-82, 1997 Dec.
Abstract: Ticks and blood samples were collected from wild birds mist-netted on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, and at the Wedge Plantation in coastal South Carolina in 1994 and 1995. Immature stages of 5 species of ixodid ticks were recovered from 10 of 148 (7%) birds belonging to 6 species in Georgia, whereas 6 ixodid species were recovered from 45 of 259 (17%) birds representing 10 avian species in South Carolina. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato was isolated from 27 of 120 (23%) screened ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes minor) recovered from South Carolina birds, but from none of 16 screened ticks removed from Georgia birds. This spirochete was also isolated from 1 of 97 (1%) birds in South Carolina. In 1995, neither eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus nor St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus was isolated from any of 218 bird sera screened, but serum neutralizing antibodies were found to EEE virus in 4 of 121 (3%) sera and to SLE virus in 2 of 121 (2%) sera from South Carolina. No antibody to either virus was detected in 51 avian sera screened from Georgia. Trypanosomes (probably Trypanosoma avium) were isolated from 1 of 51 (2%) birds from Georgia and from 13 of 97 (13%) birds from South Carolina. Our data suggest that some wild birds may be reservoir hosts for the Lyme disease spirochete and for encephalitis viruses in coastal Georgia and South Carolina and that migrating birds can disperse immature ticks infected with B. burgdorferi.
Authors: Piesman J. Happ CM.
Title: Ability of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi to infect rodents and three species of human-biting ticks (blacklegged tick, American dog tick, lone star tick) (Acari:Ixodidae).
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 34(4):451-6, 1997 Jul.
Abstract: The infectivity of a diverse collection of Borrelia burgdorferi strains from North America for mice was determined as a prelude to vector competence experiments with the 3 primary human-biting tick species in the eastern United States (Ixodes scapularis Say, Dermacentor variabilis (Say), Amblyomma americanum (L.)]. Of the 34 B. burgdorferi strains inoculated into mice, 29 were infectious; the exceptions were 5 isolates from Texas. Vector competence experiments were conducted with 2 strains from the southern United States (North Carolina and Georgia). Both strains were extremely infectious to I. scapularis larvae. Moreover, I. scapularis efficiently maintained these spirochetes transstadially and transmitted infection as nymphs. D. variabilis larvae were intermediate in susceptibility but generally did not maintain the infection transstadially. A. americanum larvae were completely refractory to infection with these 2 southern B. burgdorferi strains. Three isolates from Michigan D. variabilis were inoculated into mice, subsequently exposed to I. scapularis and D. variabilis larvae. Larval I. scapularis were 5-fold more susceptible to infection with these strains than were larval D. variabilis. Although nymphal I. scapularis efficiently transmitted a Michigan isolate, nymphal D. variabilis did not. In all these experiments, I. scapularis was the only species that proved to be vector competent for B. burgdorferi.
Authors: Oliver JH Jr. Chandler FW Jr. James AM. Huey LO. Vogel GN. Sanders FH Jr.
Title: Unusual strain of Borrelia burgdorferi isolated from Ixodes dentatus in central Georgia.
Source: Journal of Parasitology. 82(6):936-40, 1996 Dec.
Abstract: A new, unusual spirochete was cultured in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK II) medium from the midgut and other tissues of the tick Ixodes dentatus. The tick was collected from leaf litter in an oak-pine wood lot in Bibb County approximately 7.2 km from Macon in central Georgia during February 1993. Characterization by indirect immunofluorescence using 5 murine monoclonal antibodies, by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole spirochetal lysates, and by polymerase chain reaction assay for several known DNA target sequences indicates that the spirochete is Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. It is genetically different from the B-31 reference strain of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto that is typical of strains causing Lyme borreliosis in North America. Range of infectivity and pathogenesis of the Bibb County isolate (BC-1) are unknown but being investigated. The BC-1 strain is the first B. burgdorferi isolate from I. dentatus in the southeastern United States (I. dentatus is not the common vector for Lyme borreliosis in humans). Additionally, the collection site was approximately 322 km from the Atlantic coast, far distant from where most B. burgdorferi isolates have been obtained.
Authors: Keirans JE. Hutcheson HJ. Durden LA. Klompen JS.
Title: Ixodes (Ixodes) scapularis (Acari:Ixodidae): redescription of all active stages, distribution, hosts, geographical variation, and medical and veterinary importance.
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 33(3):297-318, 1996 May.
Abstract: The blacklegged tick, Ixodes (Ixodes) scapularis Say, 1821, is redescribed, based on laboratory reared specimens originating in Bulloch County, Georgia. Information on distribution, host associations, morphological variation, and medical/veterinary importance is also presented. A great deal of recent work has focused on this species because it is the principal vector of the agent of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmidt, Hyde, Steigerwaldt & Brenner) in eastern North America. Its distribution appears to be expanding, and includes the state of Florida in the southeastern United States north to the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada, west to North and South Dakota, United States, and south to the state of Coahuila, Mexico. Although I. scapularis feeds on at least 125 species of North American vertebrates (54 mammalian, 57 avian, and 14 lizard species), analysis of the U.S. National Tick Collection holdings show that white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann), cattle, Bos taurus L., dogs, Canis lupus L., and other medium-to-large sized mammals are important hosts for adults as are native mice and other small mammals, certain ground-frequenting birds, skinks, and glass lizards for nymphs and larvae. This tick is a polytypic species exhibiting north-south and east-west morphological clines. Analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparisons revealed significant interpopulational variation that is expressed most significantly in the nymphal stage. Nymphs from northern (Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland) populations had relatively larger basis capituli with shorter cornua (except Maryland) than southern (North Carolina, Georgia) populations. Midwestern populations (Minnesota, Missouri) differed from eastern populations (Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia) in idiosomal characters (broader scuta, larger coxae III, and IV). In addition to Lyme disease, this tick is also a primary vector of the agent of human and rodent babesiosis, Babesia microti Franca. Under laboratory conditions it has transmitted the agents of deer babesiosis, Babesia odocoilei Emerson & Wright, tularemia, Francisella tularensis McCoy & Chapin, and anaplasmosis, Anaplasma marginale Theiler. Moreover, I. scapularis can reach pest proportions on livestock, and females can cause tick paralysis in dogs.
Authors: Durden LA. Vogel GN. Oliver JH Jr.
Title: Nocturnal questing by adult blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae).
Source: Journal of Parasitology. 82(1):174-5, 1996 Feb.
Abstract: Quantitative tick drag samples were taken at various times during the day and night from February through April 1994 on St. Catherines Island or on Sapelo Island, Georgia. For each month, there was no statistical difference between the numbers of adult blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, collected during any hour of daylight or darkness on St. Catherines Island, Adult I. scapularis also quested during both day and night on Sapelo Island, but on this island significantly more ticks were collected in 1 nocturnal sample during March. Nocturnal questing may partially explain why hosts that are principally nocturnal or that are active during both day and night are often heavily parasitized by adult I. scapularis. This observation could be epidemiologically important with respect to tickborne zoonoses such as Lyme disease and babesiosis.
Authors: Hutcheson HJ. Oliver JH Jr. Houck MA. Strauss RE.
Title: Multivariate morphometric discrimination of nymphal and adult forms of the blacklegged tick (Acari: Ixodidae), a principal vector of the agent of Lyme disease in eastern North America.
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 32(6):827-42, 1995 Nov.
Abstract: A morphological study of postlarval stages of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, was conducted to examine congruence between northern (formerly I. dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin) and southern morphotypes. The character set totaled 17 for females, 25 for males, and 28 for nymphs. Populations from 6 geographic areas, F1 progeny from reciprocal crosses between I. scapularis from Massachusetts and Georgia, and I. pacificus Cooley & Kohls from California were measured. Characters, except cornua length in nymphs, were positively correlated with PC1, indicating it was a general-size eigenvector. Characters used previously by others to distinguish northern and southern forms had a highly positive allometric relationship to general size. In canonical variate analysis (CVA) of nymphs, canonical score 1 (CAN1) discriminated I. pacificus from all other groups, canonical score 2 (CAN2) discriminated the remaining groups in a pattern that correlated with latitude, and canonical score 3 (CAN3) separated the western (Minnesota and Missouri) from the eastern groups. Size-free CVA indicated that north-south discrimination was size dependent, but that variation between Missouri and all other groups was not size related. Mahalanobis distances between groups within stages were significant with the exception of the 2 groups of female progeny of reciprocal crosses (Massachusetts x Georgia). Analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls tests revealed that each geographic population differed from all other groups in at least 1 nymphal character. Nymphs from northern areas (Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland) differed from those from southern areas (Missouri, North Carolina, Georgia) in characters associated with the basis capitulum (longer intercornua and interauricular distances, basis capituli, and hypostome internal files, larger auriculae, but shorter cornua). Western populations (Minnesota, Missouri) differed from eastern populations in idiosomal characters (broader scutum, larger coxae III and IV). Frequency polygons of characters with the greatest differences indicated that data are continuous and geographic variation is overlapping. Thus, the data support the previous contention of conspecificity of I. scapularis and I. dammini. I. scapularis appears to be a polytypic species with a widespread geographic distribution exhibiting north-south and east-west morphological clines in eastern North America.
Authors: Sanders FH Jr. Oliver JH Jr.
Title: Evaluation of Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, and Dermacentor variabilis (Acari: Ixodidae) from Georgia as vectors of a Florida strain of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi.
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 32(4):402-6, 1995 Jul.
Abstract: The ability of three common tick species from Georgia to maintain and transmit the causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, was compared under laboratory conditions. A B. burgdorferi cotton rat isolate (MI-6) from Florida was selected as a strain from the south, and the SH2-82 isolate from New York was used as a positive control. Amblyomma americanum (L.) and Dermacentor variabilis (Say) did not transmit the MI-6 isolate from inoculated hamsters to naive laboratory mice, and nymphal ticks did not maintain this isolate transstadially. Ixodes scapularis Say transmitted both isolates to laboratory mice. There was a significant difference in the percentage of transmission of the two isolates. I. scapularis also transmitted the MI-6 isolate to two of three cotton rats. This study adds support to the premise that I. scapularis is probably the main tick vector of B. burgdorferi in the southeastern United States.
Authors: Oliver JH Jr. Chandler FW Jr. James AM. Sanders FH Jr. Hutcheson HJ. Huey LO. McGuire BS. Lane RS.
Title: Natural occurrence and characterization of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, in cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) from Georgia and Florida.
Source: Journal of Parasitology. 81(1):30-6, 1995 Feb.
Abstract: This is the first report of natural infection by Borrelia burgdorferi in the cotton rat Sigmodon hispidus. Nine B. burgdorferi isolates were obtained from ear tissues, urinary bladders, or both, by culturing tissues in BSKII medium. The rat from which the SI-3 isolate was cultured was from the same site (Sapelo Island, Georgia) as an infected cotton mouse Peromyscus gossypinus and Ixodes scapularis tick reported previously. The 8 B. burgdorferi isolates from rats in Florida included 1 (AI-1) from Amelia Island, 1 (FD-1) from Faver-Dykes State Park, and 6 (MI-3 through MI-8) from Merritt Island. The distance between Sapelo Island and Merritt Island is approximately 400 km. All B. burgdorferi isolates were characterized by indirect immunofluorescence using monoclonal antibodies to OspA (H3TS, H5332) and OspB (H5TS, H6831), polymerase chain reaction detection of specific B. burgdorferi B-31 DNA target sequences (ospA, fla, and a random chromosomal sequence), and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of spirochetal proteins. The phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of the isolates are discussed, as well as the probable importance of the cotton rat as a reservoir for B. burgdorferi in the southern United States.
Authors: Oliver JH Jr. Chandler FW Jr. Luttrell MP. James AM. Stallknecht DE. McGuire BS. Hutcheson HJ. Cummins GA. Lane RS.
Title: Isolation and transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete from the southeastern United States.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 90(15):7371-5, 1993 Aug 1.
Abstract: The isolation of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) from the southeastern United States is reported. Three isolates, two from cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) and one from the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis), were recovered from Sapelo Island, Georgia, in July and September 1991. The spirochetes were characterized by indirect fluorescent antibody assay using a battery of five monoclonal antibodies, by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS/PAGE) of whole cell lysates, and by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using primers for three DNA target sequences found in B. burgdorferi reference strain B-31. Transmission experiments indicate that the three Georgia isolates can infect experimentally inoculated hamsters and mice. Tick transmission of one of the isolates has been attempted so far; I. scapularis transmitted isolate SI-1 from hamsters to mice, but the lone-star tick, Amblyomma americanum, did not.
Authors: Mahnke GL. Stallknecht DE. Greene CE. Nettles VF. Marks MA.Institution College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.
Title: Serologic survey for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in white-tailed deer in Georgia.
Source: Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 29(2):230-6, 1993 Apr.
Abstract: A serologic survey for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi utilizing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) serum samples collected in Georgia (USA) from 1979 to 1990. Serologic results from four regions (Barrier Islands, Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Mountain) and three age classes (0.5, 1.5, and > or = 2.5 yr) were compared. Antibody prevalence, as determined by positive results at a 1:64 dilution or higher, was 36% in the Barrier Islands, 14% in the Coastal Plain, 8% in the Piedmont, and 4% in the Mountain regions. Statewide antibody prevalence was 19%. Antibody titers generally were low, and if a more conservative cutoff titer of 1:128 were used, the statewide prevalence estimate would have been reduced to 5%. Antibody prevalence as determined at this higher cutoff value, however, still remained highest in the Barrier Islands and lowest in the Mountains. Prevalence estimates were lower in the 0.5-yr age class than in the 1.5-yr or > or = 2.5-yr age class (P < 0.05). A more in-depth retrospective study of the Barrier Islands region from 1971 to 1985 revealed a 50% overall antibody prevalence; positive results were found in every year represented except 1990. Based on these results, we propose that B. burgdorferi has been present in Georgia since at least 1971.
Authors: Oliver JH Jr. Owsley MR. Hutcheson HJ. James AM. Chen C. Irby WS. Dotson EM. McLain DK.
Title: Conspecificity of the ticks Ixodes scapularis and I. dammini (Acari: Ixodidae).
Source: Journal of Medical Entomology. 30(1):54-63, 1993 Jan.
Abstract: Reciprocal crosses between Ixodes dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin from Massachusetts and Ixodes scapularis Say from Georgia produced offspring through the F3 generation when the experiment was discontinued. Reciprocal I. dammini x Ixodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls (California) and I. scapularis x I. pacificus crosses produced F1 progeny; however, all progeny were sterile. Assortative mating experiments between I. dammini and I. scapularis indicated that males and females of both species mated with the opposite sex of heterospecific or conspecific ticks when there was a choice. Conventional discriminant analysis of morphometric measurements of ticks from Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, and two populations of F1 hybrids indicated that there were recognizable differences. However, size-free (sheared) discriminant analysis indicated that these differences were largely size-dependent, with much overlap of the four eastern and two hybrid populations but no overlap with I. pacificus from California. Analysis of chromosomes (morphology and C band) indicated no differences between the Georgia and Massachusetts populations but showed a difference between them and the California population of I. pacificus. Analysis of isozymes showed that the genetic identity value for the Georgia and Massachusetts populations was within the normal range for conspecific populations, whereas the California population indicated congeneric but not conspecific relatedness to the Georgia and Massachusetts populations. Life cycle data collected under similar laboratory conditions showed no differences in length of feeding and molting periods among Georgia, Massachusetts, and California populations. These data and results of the work of other authors on tick host preferences and vector competence indicate that I. dammini is not a valid species separate from I. scapularis. Because the name Ixodes scapularis Say, 1821, has priority over the name Ixodes dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin, 1979, I. dammini is relegated to a junior subjective synonym of I. scapularis (based on Article 23 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature).
Authors: Magnarelli LA. Oliver JH Jr. Hutcheson HJ. Boone JL. Anderson JF.
Title: Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in the eastern and southern United States.
Source: Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 30(6):1449-52, 1992 Jun.
Abstract: Serologic studies were conducted to determine whether white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) contained serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays detected antibodies to this spirochete in 35.7 and 27.3% of 56 P. leucopus and 535 P. gossypinus serum samples, respectively, collected in Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Antibody titers ranged from 1:160 to greater than or equal to 1:40,960. On the basis of adsorption tests, the antibodies detected appeared to be specific to Borrelia spirochetes. Seropositive rodents in the eastern and southern United States, areas where human cases of Lyme borreliosis have been reported, indicate a widespread geographic distribution of B. burgdorferi or a closely related spirochete.
Authors: Magnarelli LA. Oliver JH Jr. Hutcheson HJ. Anderson JF.
Title: Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in deer and raccoons.
Source: Journal of Wildlife Diseases. 27(4):562-8, 1991 Oct.
Abstract: An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis, in deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and raccoons (Procyon lotor). Blood samples were collected from these mammals in Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Seropositivity for deer was highest in Connecticut (56% of 353 sera) and Maryland (51% of 35 sera). Raccoons in Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida also had antibodies to B. burgdorferi, but prevalence of positive sera was highest in Maryland (79% of 14 samples). Based on adsorption tests, the immunoglobulins detected in these mammals were probably specific to B. burgdorferi. The ELISA was more sensitive than an indirect fluorescent antibody staining method and was more suitable for analyzing large numbers of serum samples.
Authors: Anonymous.
Title: Lyme disease surveillance--United States, 1989-1990.
Source: MMWR - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. 40(25):417-21, 1991 Jun 28.
Abstract: Surveillance for Lyme disease (LD) was initiated by CDC in 1982 (1), and in January 1991, LD became nationally reportable (2). Forty-six states reported cases in 1989 and 1990 (Figure 1), but the occurrence in nature of the causative bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, has not been documented in all of these states. From 1982 through 1989, the annual reported number of cases of LD increased 18-fold (from 497 to 8803, respectively) and from 1986 through 1989, nearly doubled each year (Figure 2). The provisional total of 7997 cases for 1990 suggests a plateau in this trend of rapid annual increase. This report summarizes surveillance of LD during 1990 in Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Wisconsin.
Authors Anonymous.
Title Tickborne diseases--Georgia, 1989.
Source MMWR - Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. 39(23):397-9, 1990 Jun 15.
Authors: Bailey JP Jr. Oliver JH Jr.
Title: Lyme disease--the great imitator
Source: Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia. 78(10):665-6, 1989 Oct.
Authors: Anonymous.
Title: Tickborne diseases in Georgia, 1986.
Source: Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia. 76(7):493, 530, 1987 Jul.