THE OCCURRENCE OF SPIROCHETES IN IXODID TICKS IN NORTH CAROLINA

Abstract

Ticks were collected at 6 sites in North Carolina identified as the location of tick contact by Lyme disease patients, and at 6 sites located in counties where cases had been diagnosed. Specimens were screened for evidence of spirochete infection; fewer than 1% of the specimens collected harbored spirochetes. Indirect fluorescence antibody testing, with a species-specific monoclonal antibody, confirmed that one Ixodes scapularis Say collected at the residence of a Lyme disease patient was infected with Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson, Hyde, Schmid, and Brenner. Two specimens (Amblyomma americanum (L.) and I. scapularis) screened by a direct fluorescence antibody test with polyclonal antisera were infected with Borrelia. Spirochetes other than B. burgdorferi were found in A. americanum. No spirochetes were observed in Dermacentor variabilis (Say) or I. brunneus (Koch).