ISOLATION AND TRANSMISSION OF THE LYME-DISEASE SPIROCHETE FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED-STATES

The isolation of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) fr om the southeastern United States is reported. Three isolates, two fro m cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) and one from the black-legged ti ck (Ixodes scapularis), were recovered from Sapelo Island, Georgia, in July and September 1991. The spirochetes were characterized by indire ct fluorescent antibody assay using a battery of five monoclonal antib odies, by sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (S DS/PAGE) of whole cell lysates, and by the polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) assay using primers for three DNA target sequences found in B. bu rgdorferi reference strain B-31. Transmission experiments indicate tha t the three Georgia isolates can infect experimentally inoculated hams ters and mice. Tick transmission of one of the isolates has been attem pted so far; I. scapularis transmitted isolate SI-1 from hamsters to m ice, but the lone-star tick, Amblyomma americanum, did not.