title: Standard system for infecting ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) with the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi.
abstract: A standard system for infecting ticks with the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner is defined. Rodents infected via tick feeding or inoculation of tick homogenates were more infectious to ticks than rodents infected with culture-derived spirochetes. White laboratory mice were more infectious than hamsters. Three strains of B. burgdorferi (JD1, B31, and WI210) produced batches of infected ticks with > 80% infection when mice were infected with tick-derived material. Ixodes dammini Spielman, Clifford, Piesman & Corwin were 3.6x more efficient than I. pacificus Cooley & Kohls in acquiring and maintaining infection with two California strains of B. burgdorferi, originally isolated from I. pacificus.
authors.affiliation: Medical Entomology-Ecology Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Ft. Collins, CO 80522.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piesman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000254:growth & development*; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D051379:Mice; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*