title: Infection of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) with Borrelia burgdorferi using a new artificial feeding technique.
abstract: To study interactions between Ixodes scapularis (Say) and Borrelia burgdorferi, an artificial feeding system was refined to allow controlled manipulation of single variables. The feeding system uses a mouse skin mounted on a water-jacketed glass membrane feeder. I. scapularis were infected using either BSK-H-cultured B. burgdorferi spirochetes or a B. burgdorferi-infected mouse skin as the source of spirochetes. Sixty-six percent of nymphs successfully fed to repletion using the artificial feeding systems with at least 75% of nymphs becoming infected with B. burgdorferi. Strain B31 B. burgdorferi spirochetes from passages 2-17 were equally infectious to nymphal ticks. At concentrations of one spirochete per microliter, 12% of nymphs acquired infection and 14 and 100 spirochetes per microliter resulted in 50 and 100% infection rates, respectively. Eighty-nine percent of nymphs fed by artificial feeding molted to the adult stage. When subsequently fed as adults, these I. scapularis successfully transmitted infectious B. burgdorferi spirochetes to mice.
authors: Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO 80522, USA.
authors: T R
authors: TR
authors: Burkot
authors: C M
authors: CM
authors: Happ
authors: M C
authors: MC
authors: Dolan
authors: G O
authors: GO
authors: Maupin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D018978:Molting