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Reservoir Competence of White-Footed Mice for Lyme Disease Spirochetes
James G. Donahue
James G. Donahue
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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Joseph Piesman
Joseph Piesman
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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Andrew Spielman
Andrew Spielman
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
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Using the vector tick, Ixodes dammini, we described the reservoir competence of the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, for the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Nymphal I. dammini were used to infect mammals, and larval ticks were used to diagnose infection (a form of xenodiagnosis). One tick was nearly as efficient as more than 1 in transmitting the spirochete to mice. The duration of the prepatent period was about 1 week. Prevalence of infection approached 100% in ticks that fed as larvae on mice infected 2 or 3 weeks previously. Thereafter, infectivity gradually decreased, but duration exceeded 200 days. Hamsters, too, became infectious for larval I. dammini. This report formally demonstrates the life cycle of B. burgdorferi as it seems to occur in nature. We conclude that the white-footed mouse is a competent reservoir for the Lyme disease spirochete.
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| Past two years | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
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| Abstract Views | 2691 | 384 | 50 |
| Full Text Views | 129 | 28 | 8 |
| PDF Downloads | 166 | 35 | 13 |