Evidence of Borrelia lonestari DNA in Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae) removed from humans.

J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Dec;41(12):5557-62.


Evidence of Borrelia lonestari DNA in Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae)
removed from humans.

Stromdahl EY, Williamson PC, Kollars TM Jr, Evans SR, Barry RK, Vince MA, Dobbs
NA.

Entomological Sciences Program, U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and
Preventive Medicine, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21010-5403, USA.
Ellen.Stromdahl@apg.amedd.army.mil

We used a nested PCR with Borrelia flagellin gene (flaB) primers and DNA
sequencing to determine if Borrelia lonestari was present in Amblyomma
americanum ticks removed from military personnel and sent to the Tick-Borne
Disease Laboratory of the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive
Medicine.

In our preliminary investigation, we detected Borrelia sequences in 19 of 510
A. americanum adults and nymphs from Ft. A. P. Hill, Va.

During the 2001 tick season, the flaB primers were used to test all A.
americanum samples as they were received, and 29 of 2,358 A. americanum samples
tested individually or in small pools were positive. PCRs with 2,146 A.
americanum samples in 2002 yielded 26 more Borrelia-positive samples.

The positive ticks in 2001 and 2002 were from Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas,
Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The last positive sample of the 2001 season was a pool of larvae. To further
investigate larval infection, we collected and tested questing A. americanum
larvae from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; 4 of 33 pools (40 larvae per pool)
were positive.

Infection of unfed larvae provides evidence of the maintenance of B. lonestari
by means of transovarial transmission. Sequence analysis revealed that the
amplicons were identical to sequences of the B. lonestari flaB gene in GenBank.
Despite the low prevalence of infection, the risk of B. lonestari transmission
may be magnified because A. americanum is often abundant and aggressive, and
many tick bite victims receive multiple bites.

PMID: 14662940 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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The CDC's information on STARI:

Quote...

Epidemiology and Risk: In 2001, a patient with evidence of B. lonestari
infection was reported in the medial literature. This patient had exposure to
ticks in Maryland and North Carolina and developed a rash indistinguishable
from erythema migrans after an tick bite. DNA analysis indicated the presence
of B. lonestari in a skin biopsy taken at the leading edge of the rash and in
the tick removed by the physician. Serologic testing for was negative. The
patient was treated with an oral antibiotic and returned to normal health.

See link below for entire article...

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/stari/