Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T16:09:46.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Natural Lyme disease cycles maintained via sheep by co-feeding ticks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1997

N. H. OGDEN
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS NERC Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3RS
P. A. NUTTALL
Affiliation:
NERC Institute of Virology and Environmental Microbiology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3RS
S. E. RANDOLPH
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS

Abstract

We present observational and experimental evidence that cycles of the Lyme disease spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l., can be maintained by sheep in the virtual absence of alternative hosts. A 2-year field study in upland moorland habitats of northwest UK established that sheep feed up to 80% of larval, >99% of nymphal and all of the adult female tick (Ixodes ricinus) population. Infection prevalence of B. burgdorferi in questing ticks reaches over 20%, but amplification of infection occurs principally as nymphs (20- to 30-fold), rather than larvae (4- to 7-fold), feed on sheep, and transmission from sheep to ticks occurred only during peak tick abundance in May and September. Experimental transmission studies confirmed that sheep, previously exposed to infected ticks on the moorland site, do not support systemic infections of B. burgdorferi, but they can transmit localized infections from infected to uninfected ticks co-feeding at the same site on the sheep's body.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1997 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)