FIRST ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BORRELIA-GARINII, AGENT OF LYME-BORRELIOSIS, FROM IRISH TICKS

Nymphal Ixodes ricinus, the tick vector of Lyme borreliosis, were coll ected from the edges of paths in Muckross Demesne, Killarney National Park, Co, Kerry, Ireland, Examination of some of these nymphs by indir ect immunofluorescence showed an infection prevalence of 12% with Borr elia burgdorferi sensu late, the spirochaete agent of Lyme borreliosis , Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) were infected by infesting them with other nymphs from the same batch. Subsequently uninfected laboratory larvae were applied to the gerbils and the contents of the resulting i nfected engorged ticks were then placed in media and the spirochaetes cultured, The spirochaetes were identified as B. burgdorferi sensu lat e by indirect immunofluorescence using monoclonal antibodies and they were further characterised by polymerase chain reaction and pulsed-fie ld gel electrophoresis, Both of these latter techniques showed that sp irochaetes in all samples belonged to the genomic species, Borrelia ga rinii.