Assessment of polymicrobial infections in ticks in New York State

Articles:

Title:: Assessment of polymicrobial infections in ticks in New York State
Author(s):: Tokarz, Rafal
Jain, Komal
Bennett, Ashlee
Briese, Thomas
Lipkin, W. Ian
Date:: 2010
Type:: Articles
Department:: Center for Infection and Immunity
Volume:: 10
Permanent URL:: http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:9961
Book/Journal Title:: Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases
Abstract:: Ixodes scapularis ticks are clinically important hematophagous vectors. A single tick bite can lead to a polymicrobial infection. We determined the prevalence of polymicrobial infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia microti, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Powassan virus in 286 adult ticks from the two counties in New York State where Lyme disease is endemic, utilizing a MassTag multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay. Seventy-one percent of the ticks harbored at least one organism; 30% had a polymicrobial infection. Infections with three microbes were detected in 5% of the ticks. One tick was infected with four organisms. Our results show that coinfection is a frequent occurrence in ticks in the two counties surveyed.
Subject(s):: Epidemiology
Virology
DOI:: http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2009.0036