HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Telford, S. R. Articles by Spielman, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Telford, S. R., III Articles by Spielman, A.

Enzootic Transmission of the Agent of Lyme Disease in Rabbits

To determine whether cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus) maintain an enzootic cycle of transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi), we examined the prevalence of infection in ticks and rabbits in a location in which rabbits were abundant. Of 72 unfed nymphal Ixodes dentatus swept from vegetation, 32% were infected by this spirochete, as determined by darkfield microscopy and indirect immunofluorescence using monoclonal antibody H5332. Infected ticks were reared from larvae feeding on each of 11 rabbits taken from the same site. Of 50 rabbits sampled there over a period of 2 years, sera of > 90% reacted with B. burgdorferi antigen by ELISA and by immunoblotting. Deer ticks (I. dammini) comprised <10% of ticks found on rabbits. We conclude that rabbits perpetuate the agent of Lyme disease in an enzootic cycle where rabbit-feeding Ixodes are abundant, that intensity of transmission is independent of the zoonotic cycle in mice, but that infection may occasionally be exchanged between these cycles.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. Brown and R. Lane Lyme disease in California: a novel enzootic transmission cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi Science, June 5, 1992; 256(5062): 1439 - 1442. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Persing, S. Telford 3rd, P. Rys, D. Dodge, T. White, S. Malawista, and A Spielman Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in museum specimens of Ixodes dammini ticks Science, September 21, 1990; 249(4975): 1420 - 1423. [Abstract] [PDF]