A comparison of methods for sampling the deer tick, Ixodes dammini, in a Lyme disease endemic area.
The purpose of this study was to compare the trapping and examining of mice, drag sampling, and CO2-baited traps for their ability to detect the presence and abundance of immature deer ticks, Ixodes dammini, in a Lyme disease endemic area in southern New York State. Eight study sites were sampled 14 times between 28 May and 31 August by setting 49 live-traps, four CO2-baited traps, and drag sampling 500 m2. A total of 1540 nymphs and 3079 larvae was collected during the study. Drag sampling collected the most nymphs (705), while more larvae were recovered from CO2-baited traps (1105). Comparisons among the methods showed a significant difference in the numbers of both larval and nymphal ticks collected (P less than 0.01). There was a positive correlation between the numbers of nymphs collected by drag sampling and CO2-baited tick traps (rs = 0.83, P less than 0.05), and between the numbers of larvae collected by drag sampling and mouse trapping (rs = 0.75, P less than 0.05). These results suggest that drag sampling would be the single most reliable method for quantitatively sampling immature I. dammini populations in a Lyme disease endemic area.
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Bureau of Disease Control, Westchester County Department of Health, White Plains, NY.
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D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003670:Deer; D007814:Larva / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000635:transmission*; D009518:New York; D009758:Nymph / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010542:Peromyscus / Q000469:parasitology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000302:isolation & purification*