Retrotransposon-Based Blood Meal Analysis of Nymphal Deer Ticks Demonstrates Spatiotemporal Diversity of Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti Reservoirs.

ABSTRACT: Deer tick-transmitted Borrelia burgdorferisensu stricto (Lyme disease) and Babesia microti (babesiosis) increasingly burden public health across eastern North America. The white-footed mouse is considered the primary host for subadult deer ticks and the most important reservoir host for these and other disease agents. Local transmission is thought to be modulated by less reservoir-competent hosts, such as deer, diverting ticks from feeding on mice. We measured the proportion of mouse-fed or deer-fed host-seeking nymphs from 4 sites during 2 transmission seasons by blood meal remnant analysis using a new retrotransposon-based quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay. We then determined the host that was associated with the infection status of the tick. During the first year, the p

SUBMITTER: Goethert HK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7783337 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature