Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Small Mammals in New York State

Journal of Medical Entomology
2006, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 924 - 935

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in Small Mammals in New York State

Joanne Oliver; Robert G. Means; Sarah Kogut; Melissa Prusinski; John J.

Howard; Larry J. Layne; Frederick K. Chu; Anthony Reddy; Lucy Lee;
Dennis J.
White

Abstract
Intensive small mammal trapping was conducted in 12 counties in New
York
state during 1998-2000 to investigate the prevalence and site
specificity of
the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi in, and presence of
the
blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say on, the wild mice Peromyscus
leucopus Rafinesque and Peromyscus maniculatus Wagner and other small
mammal
species. Previously captured mice (1992-1997) from throughout New York
state
also were recruited into the study, providing a total of 3,664
Peromyscus
from 107 sites in 31 counties. Infection with B. burgdorferi was
determined
by polymerase chain reaction testing of ear tissue, and rates were
determined by species, counties, and regions of the state. B.
burgdorferi
was detected in 10 small mammal species captured during 1998-2000.
Peromyscus captured from Dutchess County in the lower Hudson Valley had
the
highest infection rate of 21%. The next highest infection rates were in

counties within the Capital District: Albany (18%), Rensselaer (17%),
and
Columbia (13%). From 4,792 small animals examined, we recovered 2,073
ticks
representing six species from 414 individuals of 12 mammal species,
including 1,839 I. scapularis collected from 315 Peromyscus trapped in
five
counties. I. scapularis were most often collected from animals trapped
in
Albany, Rensselear, and Dutchess counties. We used protein
electrophoresis
of salivary amylase to distinguish between P. leucopus and P.
maniculatus
species. I. scapularis burdens were 5.7 ticks per P. leucopus and 14.3
ticks
per P. maniculatus.

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