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Babesia microti and Borrelia bissettii transmission by Ixodes spinipalpis ticks among prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster, in Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2001

T. R. BURKOT ,
B. S. SCHNEIDER ,
N. J. PIENIAZEK ,
C. M. HAPP ,
J. S. RUTHERFORD ,
S. B. SLEMENDA ,
E. HOFFMEISTER ,
G. O. MAUPIN  and
N. S. ZEIDNER
T. R. BURKOT
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
B. S. SCHNEIDER
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
N. J. PIENIAZEK
Affiliation:
Division of Parasitic Diseases, Chamblee, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA
C. M. HAPP
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
J. S. RUTHERFORD
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
S. B. SLEMENDA
Affiliation:
Division of Parasitic Diseases, Chamblee, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA
E. HOFFMEISTER
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA
G. O. MAUPIN
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
N. S. ZEIDNER
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80522–2087, USA
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Abstract

An endemic transmission cycle of Babesia microti was discovered in Colorado in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. B. microti were found by PCR in 4 of 25 Ixodes spinipalpis tick pools tested (a 3·2% minimum infection rate) and in 87% (13 of 15) of Microtus ochrogaster (the prairie vole) spleen and blood samples. Using naturally infected I. spinipalpis collected from wild-caught M. ochrogaster as vectors, B. microti and Borrelia bissettii were successfully transmitted to laboratory-born M. ochrogaster. Neither I. spinipalpis, nor M. ochrogaster (the prairie vole) have been previously reported as a vector or a reservoir host of B. microti. Unlike the east coast of the United States where Peromyscus leucopus is an important reservoir for B. microti, evidence for Peromyscus spp. (neither P. maniculatus nor P. difficilis) as B. microti reservoirs was not found in this study.

Keywords

Ixodes spinipalpisBabesia microtiMicrotus orchogastorBorrelia bissettii
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 121 , Issue 6 , December 2000 , pp. 595 - 599
Copyright
2000 Cambridge University Press

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