Magnarelli L A, Anderson J F, Apperson C S, Fish D, Johnson R C, Chappell W A
J Wildl Dis. 1986 Apr;22(2):178-88. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-22.2.178.
Ticks were screened for spirochetes and serum samples from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) were assayed for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi during 1983-1984. Using fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled rabbit antibodies produced to B. burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, spirochetes were detected in Ixodes dammini (10.5% of 1,193) and Dermacentor albipictus (0.6% of 157) adults from Connecticut, I. dammini nymphs (49.1% of 108) and adults (64.7% of 99) from Armonk, New York, and in I. scapularis (0.4% of 531) and Amblyomma americanum (3.5% of 173) adults from North Carolina. Infected ticks were either seeking hosts or feeding on deer during the summer and fall. Direct fluorescent antibody staining also revealed spirochetes in two larvae of I. scapularis that emerged from eggs deposited by separate females in the laboratory. Using indirect immunofluorescence tests, antibodies to B. burgdorferi were identified in white-tailed deer living in tick-infested areas of all three states. Aside from minor cross-reactivity, there was no serologic evidence of Treponema or Leptospira infections. Ixodes dammini is a primary vector of B. burgdorferi in northeastern United States, but in North Carolina, other ixodid ticks may transmit this spirochete to humans and wildlife.
1983年至1984年期间，对蜱虫进行了螺旋体筛查，并对白尾鹿（弗吉尼亚鹿）的血清样本进行了抗伯氏疏螺旋体抗体检测。使用针对莱姆病病原体伯氏疏螺旋体产生的异硫氰酸荧光素标记兔抗体，在来自康涅狄格州的达敏硬蜱成虫（1193只中的10.5%）和白纹革蜱成虫（157只中的0.6%）、来自纽约州阿蒙克的达敏硬蜱若虫（108只中的49.1%）和成虫（99只中的64.7%）以及来自北卡罗来纳州的肩突硬蜱成虫（531只中的0.4%）和美洲钝缘蜱成虫（173只中的3.5%）中检测到了螺旋体。受感染的蜱虫在夏季和秋季要么在寻找宿主，要么在叮咬鹿。直接荧光抗体染色还在实验室中由不同雌蜱产下的卵孵化出的两只肩突硬蜱幼虫中发现了螺旋体。使用间接免疫荧光试验，在生活在所有三个州蜱虫滋生地区的白尾鹿中鉴定出了抗伯氏疏螺旋体抗体。除了轻微的交叉反应外，没有梅毒螺旋体或钩端螺旋体感染的血清学证据。达敏硬蜱是美国东北部伯氏疏螺旋体的主要传播媒介，但在北卡罗来纳州，其他硬蜱可能将这种螺旋体传播给人类和野生动物。
