Title |
Reservoir Competence of the Meadow Vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae) for the Lyme Disease Spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi
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Published in |
Journal of Medical Entomology, September 1998
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DOI | 10.1093/jmedent/35.5.804 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Daniel Markowski, Howard S. Ginsberg, Kerwin E. Hyland, Renjie Hu |
Abstract |
The reservoir competence of the meadow vole, Microtus pennsylvanicus Ord, for the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner was established on Patience Island, RI. Meadow voles were collected from 5 locations throughout Rhode Island. At 4 of the field sites, M. pennsylvanicus represented only 4.0% (n = 141) of the animals captured. However, on Patience Island, M. pennsylvanicus was the sole small mammal collected (n = 48). Of the larval Ixodes scapularis Say obtained from the meadow voles on Patience Island, 62% (n = 78) was infected with B. burgdorferi. Meadow voles from all 5 locations were successfully infected with B. burgdorferi in the laboratory and were capable of passing the infection to xenodiagnostic I. scapularis larvae for 9 wk. We concluded that M. pennsylvanicus was physiologically capable of maintaining B. burgdorferi infection. However, in locations where Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque) is abundant, the role of M. pennsylvanicus as a primary reservoir for B. burgdorferi was reduced. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 27 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 7 | 26% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 15% |
Professor | 4 | 15% |
Student > Master | 4 | 15% |
Student > Bachelor | 1 | 4% |
Other | 5 | 19% |
Unknown | 2 | 7% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 13 | 48% |
Environmental Science | 4 | 15% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 11% |
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine | 1 | 4% |
Philosophy | 1 | 4% |
Other | 2 | 7% |
Unknown | 3 | 11% |