Ebel G D, Campbell E N, Goethert H K, Spielman A, Telford S R
Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2000 Jul-Aug;63(1-2):36-42. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2000.63.36.
To determine whether rodents that are intensely exposed to the deer tick-transmitted agents of Lyme disease, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and human babesiosis are also exposed to deer tick virus (DTV), we assayed serum samples from white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) in sites densely infested by deer ticks. To conduct serosurveys, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot assay by cloning, expressing, and purifying a portion of the DTV envelope glycoprotein (DTV rE) for use as test antigen. Sera from mice and voles trapped in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin were screened by ELISA for IgG reactive to DTV rE. Samples that were positive or borderline by ELISA were subsequently analyzed by immunoblotting. Samples reactive in both assays were considered to be positive. Three percent of 264 mouse samples collected from sites in Rhode Island, 3.8% of 52 samples from mice trapped in Wisconsin, and 3.9% of 282 samples collected from mice trapped on Nantucket Island, MA were positive. No samples from either Great Island, MA, or voles from any study site were reactive. A reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction yielded molecular evidence of DTV infecting questing adult deer ticks in sites where seroreactive mice were trapped, but not from ticks collected where serologic evidence of virus perpetuation was absent. White-footed mice appear to be exposed to DTV in certain sites where other deer tick-borne agents perpetuate. This virus may be maintained in the same enzootic cycle.
为了确定那些强烈暴露于由鹿蜱传播的莱姆病病原体、人粒细胞埃立克体病病原体和人巴贝斯虫病病原体的啮齿动物是否也暴露于鹿蜱病毒（DTV），我们检测了来自白足鼠（白足鼠属）和草原田鼠（宾夕法尼亚田鼠）的血清样本，这些样本采自鹿蜱密集出没的地点。为了进行血清学调查，我们通过克隆、表达和纯化DTV包膜糖蛋白的一部分（DTV rE）作为检测抗原，开发了一种酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）和蛋白质印迹法。用ELISA筛选了从马萨诸塞州、罗德岛州和威斯康星州捕获的小鼠和田鼠血清中对DTV rE有反应的IgG。ELISA检测呈阳性或临界阳性的样本随后进行免疫印迹分析。两种检测均有反应的样本被视为阳性。从罗德岛州的地点采集的264份小鼠样本中有3%呈阳性，从威斯康星州捕获的52份小鼠样本中有3.8%呈阳性，从马萨诸塞州楠塔基特岛捕获的282份小鼠样本中有3.9%呈阳性。来自马萨诸塞州大岛的样本或任何研究地点的田鼠样本均无反应。逆转录聚合酶链反应产生了分子证据，证明在捕获血清反应阳性小鼠的地点，DTV感染了正在 questing 的成年鹿蜱，但在没有病毒持续存在血清学证据的地点采集的蜱中未检测到。白足鼠似乎在某些其他鹿蜱传播病原体持续存在的地点暴露于DTV。这种病毒可能在相同的动物疫源地循环中得以维持。
