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Infection rates of Borrelia burgdorferi in different instars of Ixodes ricinus ticks from the Dutch North Sea Island of Ameland

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Abstract

Between 1988 and 1993, a total of 7173 I. ricinus ticks, predominantly nymphs, were collected from the vegetation on the Dutch North Sea Island of Ameland. A proportion of the ticks (n=547) was screened for the presence of Borrelia by immunofluorescence. Infection rates of Borrelia varied, in nymphs (n=347) from 13% to 46% and in adults, (n=122) from 20% to 43%. The infection rate in larvae (n=84) collected in 1993 was 21%, showing that transovarial transmission of B. burgdorferi occurs in the I. ricinus population on Ameland. Two tick-naive sheep seroconverted for B. burgdorferi after field-collected adult or nymphal I. ricinus were allowed to feed on them. Larval progeny (n=168) of 15 female adult ticks fed on one of these sheep were free from B. burgdorferi. B. burgdorferi was isolated in culture from field-collected adult ticks. Serotyping using monoclonal antibodies against outer surface proteins A and C indicated that both isolates belonged to genospecies B. garinii, and this was confirmed by DraI restriction analysis of the variable DNA sequence between the 5S and 23S rRNA genes.

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Rijpkema, S., Nieuwenhuijs, J., Franssen, F.F.J. et al. Infection rates of Borrelia burgdorferi in different instars of Ixodes ricinus ticks from the Dutch North Sea Island of Ameland. Exp Appl Acarol 18, 531–542 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00058936

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