Journal of Medical Entomology (2001) 38, 167-171

Thomas R. Burkot, Christine M. Happ, Marc C. Dolan and Gary O. Maupin (2001)
Infection of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) with Borrelia burgdorferi using a new artificial feeding technique
Journal of Medical Entomology 38 (2), 167-171
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.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Thomas R. Burkot

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Ixodes scapularis