Involvement of Birds in the Epidemiology of the Lyme Disease Agent Borrelia Burgdorferi

Overview

Journal Infect Immun

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Allergy & Immunology

Date 1986 Feb 1

PMID 3943893

Citations 59

Authors

J F Anderson

R C Johnson

L A Magnarelli

F W Hyde

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, was isolated from the liver of a passerine bird, Catharus fuscescens (veery), and from larval Ixodes dammini (tick) feeding on Pheucticus ludovicianus (rose-breasted grosbeak) and Geothlypis trichas (common yellowthroat). In indirect immunofluorescence antibody tests, isolates reacted with polyclonal and monoclonal (H5332) antibodies. Studies on the DNA composition of the veery liver isolate and the strain cultured from an I. dammini larva indicated that both were B. burgdorferi and not Borrelia anserina or Borrelia hermsii. The veery liver isolate infected hamsters and a chick. In contrast, B. anserina infected chicks but not hamsters. B. burgdorferi is unique among Borrelia spp. in being infectious to both mammals and birds. We suggest that the cosmopolitan distribution of B. burgdorferi may be caused by long-distance dispersal of infected birds that serve as hosts for ticks.

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