Infection of Ixodes scapularis (Acari : Ixodidae) with Borrelia burgdorferi using a new artificial feeding technique

To study interactions between Ixodes scapularis (Say) and Borrelia burgdorf eri, an artificial feeding system was refined to allow controlled manipulat ion of single variables. The feeding system uses a mouse skin mounted on a water-jacketed glass membrane feeder. I. scapularis were infected using eit her BSK-H-cultured B. burgdorferi spirochetes or a B. burgdorferi-infected mouse skin as the source of spirochetes. Sixty-six percent of nymphs succes sfully fed to repletion using the artificial feeding systems with at least 75% of nymphs becoming infected with B, burgdorferi. Strain B31 B, burgdorf eri spirochetes from passages 2-17 were equally infectious to nymphal ticks . At concentrations of one spirochete per microliter, 12% of nymphs acquire d infection and 14 and 100 spirochetes per microliter resulted in 50 and 10 0% infection rates, respectively. Eighty-nine percent of nymphs fed by arti ficial feeding molted to the adult stage. When subsequently fed as adults, these I. scapularis successfully transmitted infectious B. burgdorferi spir ochetes to mice.