Characterization of Lyme Disease Spirochetes Isolated From Ticks and Vertebrates in North Carolina

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi isolates obtained from numerous locations and from different hosts in North Carolina, were compared to previously characterized strains of the Lyme disease spirochete and other Borrelia spp. The spirochete isolates were confirmed to be B. burgdorferi sensu stricto based on immunofluorescence (IFA) using a monoclonal antibody to outer surface protein A (Osp A [H5332]) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a species-specific nested primer for a conserved region of the gene that encodes for flagellin. In addition, the isolates tested positive in Western blots with species-specific monoclonal antibodies for outer surface protein A and OspB (84c), and the genus-specific, monoclonal antibody to flagellin (H9724). Infectivity studies with several of these isolates were conducted using Mus musculus and Oryzomys palustris and the isolates exhibited markedly different levels of infectivity. This study demonstrates that B. burgdorferi sensu stricto is present and naturally transmitted on the Outer Banks and in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions of North Carolina.

The Dog as a Sentinel for Human Infection: Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi C6 Antibodies in Dogs from Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States

“…More recently, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto isolates were identified in ticks and small rodents from North Carolina using Western blotting, polymerase chain reaction amplification of the B. burgdorferi flagellin gene (fla A. ), and plasmid profile analysis (Ryan et al 2000). Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies have been found in deer and rodents from North Carolina .…”

Stable Transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Stricto on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

“…We isolated B. burgdorferi from both P. leucopus and O. palustris . An isolate from an S. floridanus was also previously characterized as B. burgdorferi (Ryan et al., ). Our understanding of the genus B. burgdorferi species complex has markedly broadened since the initial isolation of B. burgdorferi and its recognized association with Lyme disease (Steere et al., ).…”

“…However, infected questing I. scapularis have been collected in North Carolina (Levine et al, 1989;Qiu et al, 2002) and at various locations in the Southeast (Sonenshine et al, 1995;Clark et al, 2001Clark et al, , 2002Oliver et al, 2008;Leydet and Liang, 2014). In addition, white-footed mice and other species of rodents considered to be reservoir competent are present throughout the Southeast (Apperson et al, 1993;Clark et al, 2001) and B. burgdorferi has been identified in numerous hosts in Virginia (Sonenshine et al, 1995), North Carolina (Ouellette et al, 1997;Ryan et al, 2000), South Carolina (Clark et al, 2002) and other southeastern states (Leydet and Liang, 2014). In this article, we report the results of a series of studies of questing ticks and live-trapped rodents and reptiles on the Outer Banks of NC that span 18 years and document persistent sylvatic maintenance of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto on these barrier islands.…”

Recent discovery of widespread Ixodes affinis (Acari: Ixodidae) distribution in North Carolina with implications for Lyme disease studies

“…North Carolina has a greater diversity of rodents and reptiles with differing distributions, a more diverse tick fauna utilizing these hosts, and more diverse Borrelia populations (Ryan et al 1998, 2000) than those found in the northeastern U.S.A. This suggests that there may be several different basic cycles of Borrelia burgdorferi s. s. in the state, each operating in different regions, as in the diverse Borrelia life cycles known from Georgia and South Carolina (Oliver et al 2003).…”