Clin Microbiol. 2003 Dec;41(12):5557-62.  Related Articles, Links

    Evidence of Borrelia lonestari DNA in Amblyomma americanum (Acari:
Ixodidae) removed from humans.

    Stromdahl EY, Williamson PC, Kollars TM Jr, Evans SR, Barry RK,
Vince MA, Dobbs NA.

    Entomological Sciences Program, U.S. Army Center for Health
Promotion and Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland

    We used a nested PCR with Borrelia flagellin gene (flaB) primers
and DNA sequencing to determine if Borrelia lonestari was present in
Amblyomma americanum ticks removed from military personnel and sent to
the Tick-Borne Disease Laboratory of the U.S. Army Center for Health
Promotion and Preventive Medicine. In our preliminary investigation,
we detected Borrelia sequences in 19 of 510 A. americanum {*filter*}s and
nymphs from Ft. A. P. Hill, Va. During the 2001 tick season, the flaB
primers were used to test all A. americanum samples as they were
received, and 29 of 2,358 A. americanum samples tested individually or
in small pools were positive. PCRs with 2,146 A. americanum samples in
2002 yielded 26 more Borrelia-positive samples. The positive ticks in
2001 and 2002 were from Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and {*filter*}ia. The
last positive sample of the 2001 season was a pool of larvae. To
further investigate larval infection, we collected and tested questing
A. americanum larvae from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; 4 of 33 pools
(40 larvae per pool) were positive. Infection of unfed larvae provides
evidence of the maintenance of B. lonestari by means of transovarial
transmission. Sequence analysis revealed that the amplicons were
identical to sequences of the B. lonestari flaB gene in GenBank.
Despite the low prevalence of infection, the risk of B. lonestari
transmission may be magnified because A. americanum is often abundant
and aggressive, and many tick bite victims receive multiple bites.

    PMID: 14662940 [PubMed - in process]