Prevalence of Tick-Borne Pathogens in Ixodes scapularis in a Rural New Jersey County

Abstract

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PCR Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus, and the Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis Agent in Ixodes persulcatus Ticks from Western Siberia, Russia

“…Total nucleic acids were extracted from ticks with an IsoQuick nucleic acid extraction kit (ORCA Research, Bothell, Wash.), which was employed according to the manufacturer's instructions, followed by phenol-chloroform extraction and isopropanol precipitation (22). The presence of each pathogen was determined by using PCR with primer sets that have previously been used to detect the pathogens concerned and that are specific for genomic regions known to be present in all the isolates (3,21,24,25). The primers to detect the bmp genes were used to confirm the results of previous studies indicating that these genes are present in all B. burgdorferi sensu lato strains and appear in the following order: bmpD, bmpC, bmpA, and bmpB (12).…”

Molecular Characterization of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Borrelia burgdorferi in Ixodes scapularis Ticks from Pennsylvania

“…Although the effects of dual infections on human susceptibility and clinical disease are uncertain, recent evidence obtained from in vivo laboratory experiments suggests that infection with either B. burgdorferi or A. phagocytophilum does not affect the acquisition of the other pathogen during subsequent or simultaneous feedings (15). Other studies have also demonstrated the simultaneous presence of A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi in I. scapularis ticks (7,26; Schwartz et al, letter). Factors affecting tick coinfection and the risk to humans posed by such dual infections will need further study.…”

Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis

“…33 Beyond A. phagocytophilum, Ixodes ticks are often coinfected with other human pathogens. 34,35 Coinfections also occur frequently in the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus), 36,37 and serological investigations and prospective studies of humans who had Lyme borreliosis demonstrate that between 1 and 9 % of individuals living in Wisconsin, 38 or western Sweden 39 have serologic evidence of prior A. phagocytophilum infection. In a subsequent surveillance study of HGA in Wisconsin, 7 of 142 patients (5%) had erythema migrans and serologic evidence of recent B. burgdorferi infection, 27 and both pathogens have been recovered in culture from coinfected individuals on several occasions.…”