EXPERIMENTAL BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI INFECTIONS IN THE WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE, DEER MOUSE, AND FULVOUS HARVEST MOUSE DETECTED BY NEEDLE ASPIRATIONOF SPIROCHETES
Nl. Ge et Aa. Kocan, EXPERIMENTAL BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI INFECTIONS IN THE WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE, DEER MOUSE, AND FULVOUS HARVEST MOUSE DETECTED BY NEEDLE ASPIRATIONOF SPIROCHETES, Journal of wildlife diseases, 29(2), 1993, pp. 214-218
Three methods were tested for recovering Borrelia burgdorferi from liv
e mice onto BSK II culture medium. Four laboratory-reared Peromyscus l
eucopus were inoculated intraperitoneally with the JD-1 isolate of Bor
relia burgdorferi. Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes were recovered fro
m 13 of 20 (65%) samples taken by needle aspiration between days 7 and
40 post-inoculation (PI) and from 1 of 16 samples of skin obtained by
ear punch biopsy during the same sampling period. Spirochetes were no
t recovered from culture media inoculated with mouse blood. The use of
needle aspirates for recovering spirochetes was compared among three
species of mice: P. leucopus, P. maniculatus, and Reithrodontomys fulv
escens. Spirochetes were isolated from 14 of 15 aspiration samples fro
m four P. maniculatus, 12 of 20 from three P. leucopus, and 15 of 20 f
rom four R. fulvescens taken between days 7 and 48 PI. Spirochetes wer
e isolated from only one aspiration sample between days 80 and 95 PI f
rom any of the mice tested. Needle aspiration was an efficient method
for repeated recovery of B. burgdorferi from live, experimentally infe
cted mice. We also document R. fulvescens as an experimental host for
B. burgdorferi. Based on their susceptibility to infection, all specie
s of mice tested herein may play a role in the epidemiology of Lyme di
sease where their distribution is compatable with endemic transmission
.