TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF IXODES-PACIFICUS AND DERMACENTOR-OCCIDENTALIS (ACARI, IXODIDAE) AND PREVALENCE OF BORRELIA-BURGDORFERIIN CONTRA-COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Vl. Kramer et C. Beesley, TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL-DISTRIBUTION OF IXODES-PACIFICUS AND DERMACENTOR-OCCIDENTALIS (ACARI, IXODIDAE) AND PREVALENCE OF BORRELIA-BURGDORFERIIN CONTRA-COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, Journal of medical entomology, 30(3), 1993, pp. 549-554
The seasonal activity and spatial distribution of adult and immature I
xodes pacificus Cooley & Kohls and Dermacentor occidentalis Marx were
determined along trails and on hillsides in two parks in Contra Costa
County, CA. I. pacificus and D. occidentalis adults were most numerous
in January and May, respectively. Adult ticks were significantly more
abundant along heavily vegetated trails than on open grassy hillsides
, and on the uphill versus the downhill side of trails. Five species o
f rodents were captured, and numbers of 1. pacificus and D. occidental
is larvae per rodent were highest in May-June and July, respectively.
Few nymphs were recovered either by flagging or from captured rodents.
An average of 2.2 and 2.8% of the I. pacificus adults collected from
the two parks were infected with the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia
burgdorferi Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner. The greates
t risk of contracting Lyme disease from adult I. pacificus in these tw
o Contra Costa County parks is during the winter months, especially wh
ile hiking near the uphill side of trails.