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Reservoir Competence of the Southeastern Five-Lined Skink (Eumeces inexpectatus) and the Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) for Borrelia burgdorferi
Michael Levin
Michael Levin
Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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Jay F. Levine
Jay F. Levine
Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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Sam Yang
Sam Yang
Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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Peter Howard
Peter Howard
Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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Charles S. Apperson
Charles S. Apperson
Department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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The reservoir competence of two lizard species, the southeastern five-lined skink (Eumeces inexpectatus) and the green anole (Anolis carolinensis), for Borrelia burgdorferi was evaluated. Skinks and anoles were exposed by needle inoculation or tick bite to B. burgdorferi. Xenodiagnosis with larval Ixodes scapularis and culture of tissues were used to assess infection and the ability of infected lizards to infect attached ticks. Both lizard species were susceptible to B. burgdorferi by both routes of exposure. Xenodiagnostic ticks acquired spirochetes while feeding on both species. One tick that dropped from a skink on the ninth day after exposure was infected. The remainder of xenodiagnostic ticks that acquired spirochetes fed three weeks after exposure of the lizards to the spirochete. Lizards remained infectious to attached ticks for at least five weeks. Overall, more than 20% of xenodiagnostic larvae fed on southeastern five-lined skinks acquired spirochetes. Individual skinks infected up to 34% of attached ticks. A smaller proportion of ticks feeding on green anoles became infected. Borrelia burgdorferi recovered from infected lizards retained their infectivity for mammalian hosts. The ability of the lizards to sustain a Borrelia infection and infect attached ticks suggests that they may play a role in the maintenance of spirochete transmission.
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