Inability of Ixodes cookei and Amblyomma americanum Nymphs (Acari: Ixodidae) To Transmit Borrelia burgdorferi

Ryder, John; Pinger, Robert R.; Glancy, Todd

doi:10.1093/jmedent/29.3.525

Cited by 43 publications

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“…Vector competency studies have concluded repeatedly that B. burgdorferi is unlikely to be transmitted by A. americanum (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16), and a potent borreliacidal agent has been identified in A. americanum saliva (17,18). From 1997 to 2010, the Department of Defense (DOD) Human Tick Test Kit Program (HTTKP), a tick identification and PCR testing service provided by the U.S. Army Public Health Command (USAPHC) for DOD personnel and dependents, tested 22,565 A. americanum ticks (21,245 adults and nymphs removed from humans, and 1,320 field-collected larvae) for borrelial agents of Lyme-like diseases using a series of nested-and real-time PCR assays.…”

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Borrelia burgdorferi Not Confirmed in Human-Biting Amblyomma americanum Ticks from the Southeastern United States

et al. 2015

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The predominant human-biting tick throughout the southeastern United States is Amblyomma americanum. Its ability to transmit pathogens causing Lyme disease-like illnesses is a subject of ongoing controversy. Results of previous testing by the Department of Defense Human Tick Test Kit Program and other laboratories indicated that it is highly unlikely that A. americanum transmits any pathogen that causes Lyme disease. In contrast, a recent publication by Clark and colleagues (K. L. Clark, B. Leydet, and S. Hartman, Int. J. Med. Sci. 10:915-931, 2013) reported detection of Lyme group Borrelia in A. americanum using a nested-flagellin-gene PCR. We evaluated this assay by using it and other assays to test 1,097 A. americanum ticks collected from humans. Using the Clark assay, in most samples we observed nonspecific amplification and nonrepeatability of results on subsequent testing of samples. Lack of reaction specificity and repeatability is consistent with mispriming, likely due to high primer concentrations and low annealing temperatures in this protocol. In six suspect-positive samples, Borrelia lonestari was identified by sequencing of an independent gene region; this is not a Lyme group spirochete and is not considered zoonotic. B. burgdorferi was weakly amplified from one pool using some assays, but not others, and attempts to sequence the amplicon of this pool failed, as did attempts to amplify and sequence B. burgdorferi from the five individual samples comprising this pool. Therefore, B. burgdorferi was not confirmed in any sample. Our results do not support the hypothesis that A. americanum ticks are a vector for Lyme group Borrelia infections. T he vectors and etiologic agents of Lyme-like diseases in the southeastern United States are a subject of ongoing controversy (1, 2). In the United States, most Lyme disease is caused by infection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, a bacterium that is phylogenetically within the B. burgdorferi sensu lato "Lyme group" of spirochetes vectored by hard ticks. The Lyme group also includes genospecies implicated as the etiologic agents of Lyme disease in other geographic regions, including B. garinii, B. afzelii, B. spielmanii, and B. valaisiana in Europe. Additional Lyme group genospecies continue to be described. In the United States, these include B. americana, B. andersonii, and B. carolinensis, all of unknown pathogenicity, and B. bissettii, which has been implicated in cases of human illness (1). In contrast to the Lyme group, the relapsing fever (RF) group spirochetes, many of which are vectored by soft ticks, are a separate phylogenetic cluster that includes agents associated with RF disease in humans. In the United States, genospecies within the RF group include B. hermsii, B. turicatae, and B. parkeri, vectored by soft ticks, and B. miyamotoi, B. davisii, and B. lonestari, vectored by hard ticks. B. hermsii is the main cause of tick-borne relapsing fever in the United States; B. turicatae and B. parkeri have also been associated with human disease (3). B...

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Borrelia burgdorferi Not Confirmed in Human-Biting Amblyomma americanum Ticks from the Southeastern United States

et al. 2015

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“…At first, analysis targeted B. burgdorferi, because A. americanum was suspected as a vector of Lyme disease. However, vector competency studies indicated that B. burgdorferi is rarely transmitted by A. americanum (19,21,22,25,26,30,32) b Corresponds to sequence data generated in this study, under GenBank accession numbers AY237656, AY237667, AY237671, AY237677, AY237678, AY237679, and AY237707.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evidence ofBorrelia lonestariDNA inAmblyomma americanum(Acari: Ixodidae) Removed from Humans

et al. 2003

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“…Ixodes cookei and I. marxi both had a low prevalence of infection in our study, but these infected ticks were removed from animals (southern flying squirrel, raccoon) only at site C1, where I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi were at relatively high prevalence; infections in these alternative tick species thus may represent spillover from feeding on hosts infected by I. scapularis. Furthermore, I. cookei is an incompetent vector (Ryder et al, 1992). Two infected tick species removed from wildlife at inland sites included I. texanus and I. dentatus.…”

Section: B Burgdorferi Distribution Abundance and Diversitymentioning

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Invasion of the Lyme Disease Vector Ixodes scapularis: Implications for Borrelia burgdorferi Endemicity

et al. 2010

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Lyme disease risk is increasing in the United States due in part to the spread of blacklegged ticks Ixodes scapularis, the principal vector of the spirochetal pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. A 5-year study was undertaken to investigate hypothesized coinvasion of I. scapularis and B. burgdorferi in Lower Michigan. We tracked the spatial and temporal dynamics of the tick and spirochete using mammal, bird, and vegetation drag sampling at eight field sites along coastal and inland transects originating in a zone of recent I. scapularis establishment. We document northward invasion of these ticks along Michigan's west coast during the study period; this pattern was most evident in ticks removed from rodents. B. burgdorferi infection prevalences in I. scapularis sampled from vegetation in the invasion zone were 9.3% and 36.6% in nymphs and adults, respectively, with the majority of infection (95.1%) found at the most endemic site. There was no evidence of I. scapularis invasion along the inland transect; however, low-prevalence B. burgdorferi infection was detected in other tick species and in wildlife at inland sites, and at northern coastal sites in years before the arrival of I. scapularis. These infections suggest that cryptic B. burgdorferi transmission by other vector-competent tick species is occurring in the absence of I. scapularis. Other Borrelia spirochetes, including those that group with B. miyamotoi and B. andersonii, were present at a low prevalence within invading ticks and local wildlife. Reports of Lyme disease have increased significantly in the invasion zone in recent years. This rapid blacklegged tick invasion--measurable within 5 years--in combination with cryptic pathogen maintenance suggests a complex ecology of Lyme disease emergence in which wildlife sentinels can provide an early warning of disease emergence.

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Inability of Ixodes cookei and Amblyomma americanum Nymphs (Acari: Ixodidae) To Transmit Borrelia burgdorferi

Cited by 43 publications

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Borrelia burgdorferi Not Confirmed in Human-Biting Amblyomma americanum Ticks from the Southeastern United States

Borrelia burgdorferi Not Confirmed in Human-Biting Amblyomma americanum Ticks from the Southeastern United States

Evidence ofBorrelia lonestariDNA inAmblyomma americanum(Acari: Ixodidae) Removed from Humans

Invasion of the Lyme Disease Vector Ixodes scapularis: Implications for Borrelia burgdorferi Endemicity

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