Reservoir competence of the meadow vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae) for the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi.
The reservoir competence of the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord, for the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner was established on Patience Island, RI. Meadow voles were collected from 5 locations throughout Rhode Island. At 4 of the field sites, M. pennsylvanicus represented only 4.0% (n = 141) of the animals captured. However, on Patience Island, M. pennsylvanicus was the sole small mammal collected (n = 48). Of the larval Ixodes scapularis Say obtained from the meadow voles on Patience Island, 62% (n = 78) was infected with B. burgdorferi. Meadow voles from all 5 locations were successfully infected with B. burgdorferi in the laboratory and were capable of passing the infection to xenodiagnostic I. scapularis larvae for 9 wk. We concluded that M. pennsylvanicus was physiologically capable of maintaining B. burgdorferi infection. However, in locations where Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque) is abundant, the role of M. pennsylvanicus as a primary reservoir for B. burgdorferi was reduced.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston 02881-0816, USA.
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Markowski
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Ginsberg
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Hyland
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D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D007814:Larva; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000635:transmission*; D010542:Peromyscus / Q000469:parasitology*; D012237:Rhode Island