Lyme disease is the most reported vector borne disease in the United States. The causative agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, is transmitted by the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis. In North America, the primary reservoir of B. burgdorferi is the white footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus. Mice appear to be adequate sentinels for infection. However, infection status of P. leucopus only indicates the presence or absence of Borrelia and Ixodes ticks, it does not indicate the level of I. scapularis feeding. Mice are often easier to obtain than ticks, especially in areas where Lyme disease may exist but ticks are not abundant. Here we present a method to detect I. scapularis feeding on P. leucopus by examining the response to antigens found in the salivary glands of I. scapularis. Using Western blot analysis, antigenic profiles of larval whole tick homogenates and nymphal salivary gland extract homogenates were immunoblotted with sera from P. leucopus repeatedly infested with either larval or nymphal I. scapularis. The resulting detected antigen was sequenced and compared to a cloned full length cDNA library constructed from the salivary glands of I. scapularis fed to repletion on rabbits. Once identified, the targeted protein was then screened using serum collected from wild caught P. leucopus. This method for detecting the presence of antibodies to tick salivary gland antigens may be a useful tool for detecting the presence of Ixodes tick parasitism, thus potential risk for Lyme disease, in regions where tick densities are very low and B. burgdorferi is nonendemic.
Species 1: Acari Ixodidae Ixodes scapularis (black-legged tick)
Keywords: ticks, Lyme disease
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