Norway rats as reservoir hosts for Lyme disease spirochetes on Monhegan Island, Maine.

TitleNorway rats as reservoir hosts for Lyme disease spirochetes on Monhegan Island, Maine.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1993
AuthorsSmith RP, Rand PW, Lacombe EH, Telford SR, Rich SM, Piesman J, Spielman A
JournalJ Infect Dis
Volume168
Issue3
Pagination687-91
Date Published1993 Sep
ISSN0022-1899
KeywordsAnimals, Animals, Domestic, Antibodies, Bacterial, Borrelia burgdorferi Group, Cats, Disease Reservoirs, Disease Vectors, Dogs, Geography, Humans, Incidence, Lyme Disease, Maine, Rats, Ticks
Abstract

To determine whether the agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, may be maintained in the absence of its usual white-footed mouse reservoir host, Ixodes dammini ticks from an island where mice are absent were examined. Prevalence of spirochetal infection was described for ticks removed from mammals, birds, and vegetation on Monhegan Island, Maine. Forty percent of adult I. dammini removed from vegetation were infected. Norway rats were heavily infested with ticks, and > 60% of such ticks contained spirochetes. Other hosts were less frequently infested by ticks, and few such ticks were infected by spirochetes. The prevalence of antibody to B. burgdorferi was 23% in dogs and cats; 4% of island residents had Lyme disease. Thus, rats maintain Lyme disease spirochetes on Monhegan Island, and there may be transmission of this agent by I. dammini to island residents and their pets.

Alternate JournalJ. Infect. Dis.
PubMed ID8354910