Reservoir competence of native North American birds for the lyme
- From: "georgia" <jwissmille@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 23 Jul 2005 18:01:51 -0700
".......Engorged larvae drop from birds abundantly during
daylight, so the abundance of these bird species in the peridomestic
environment suggests that they might contribute infected ticks to lawns
and gardens......"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15962798&query_hl=16
J Med Entomol. 2005 May;42(3):445-9.
*Reservoir competence of native North American birds for the lyme
disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorfieri.*
*Ginsberg HS, Buckley PA, Balmforth MG, Zhioua E, Mitra S, Buckley
FG.*
U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Coastal
Field Station, Woodward Hall-PLS, University of Rhode Island, Kingston,
RI 02881, USA.
Reservoir competence for the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia
burgdorferi, was tested for six species of native North American birds:
American robin, gray catbird, brown thrasher, eastern towhee, song
sparrow, and northern cardinal. Wild birds collected by mist netting on
Fire Island, NY, were held in a field laboratory in cages over water
and
locally collected larval ticks were placed on the birds, harvested from
the water after engorgement, and tested for infection by direct
fluorescentantibody staining after molting to the nymphal stage.
American robins were competent reservoirs, infecting 16.1% of larvae
applied to wild-caught birds, compared with 0% of control ticks placed
on uninfected laboratory mice. Robins that were previously infected in
the laboratory by nymphal feeding infected 81.8% of applied larvae.
Wild-caught song sparrows infected 4.8% of applied larvae and 21.1%
when
infected by nymphal feeding. Results suggest moderate levels of
reservoir competence for northern cardinals, lower levels for gray
catbirds, and little evidence of reservoir competence for eastern
towhees or brown thrashers. Lower infection rates in larvae applied to
wild-caught birds compared with birds infected in the laboratory
suggest
that infected birds display temporal variability in infectiousness to
larval ticks. Engorged larvae drop from birds abundantly during
daylight, so the abundance of these bird species in the peridomestic
environment suggests that they might contribute infected ticks to lawns
and gardens.
PMID: 15962798 [PubMed - in process]
.
- Prev by Date: Western gray squirrel - host of Lyme disease?
- Next by Date: Experimental inoculation of mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos
- Previous by thread: Western gray squirrel - host of Lyme disease?
- Next by thread: Experimental inoculation of mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
