This proposal seeks to determine whether the competence of vector ticks as hosts for Lyme disease spirochetes may be modified by the immune response of vertebrate hosts, thereby linking reservoir and vector competence. Using the uniquely competent white-footed mouse as a model, a sequence of experiments determine whether particular borrelial antigens such as OspA or OspB may induce humoral or cell-mediated immune responses that serve to negate spirochetal development within the guts of subadult deer ticks. In addition the hypothesis that anti-Osp mediated selection within the guts of ticks may contribute to spirochetal antigenic heterogeneity shall be explored, thereby demonstrating that the pathogen actively coevolves with the vector and reservoir. Finally, other spirochetal antigens shall be examined for their capacity to induce reservoir immune responses which may reduce or enhance vector competence by virtue of effects within the gut of the tick vector. Ultimately, this research effort is designed to define a physiological determinant of reservoir and vector competence for the agent of Lyme disease. It is anticipated-that these observations on the manner in which a pathogen interacts with its reservoir and vector may provide basic information on the mode of perpetuation of tick-borne microorganisms in nature.
| Goethert, Heidi K; Telford 3rd, Sam R (2014) Not ""out of Nantucket"": Babesia microti in southern New England comprises at least two major populations. Parasit Vectors 7:546 |
| Burke, Georgine; Wikel, Stephen K; Spielman, Andrew et al. (2005) Hypersensitivity to ticks and Lyme disease risk. Emerg Infect Dis 11:36-41 |
| Telford 3rd, S R; Goethert, H K (2004) Emerging tick-borne infections: rediscovered and better characterized, or truly 'new' ? Parasitology 129 Suppl:S301-27 |
| Goethert, Heidi K; Telford 3rd, Sam R (2003) Enzootic transmission of Babesia divergens among cottontail rabbits on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Am J Trop Med Hyg 69:455-60 |
| Krause, Peter J; McKay, Kathleen; Gadbaw, Joseph et al. (2003) Increasing health burden of human babesiosis in endemic sites. Am J Trop Med Hyg 68:431-6 |
| Goethert, H K; Telford 3rd, S R (2003) What is Babesia microti? Parasitology 127:301-9 |
| Foppa, Ivo M; Krause, Peter J; Spielman, Andrew et al. (2002) Entomologic and serologic evidence of zoonotic transmission of Babesia microti, eastern Switzerland. Emerg Infect Dis 8:722-6 |
| Krause, Peter J; McKay, Kathleen; Thompson, Charles A et al. (2002) Disease-specific diagnosis of coinfecting tickborne zoonoses: babesiosis, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis 34:1184-91 |
| Ryan, R; Krause, P J; Radolf, J et al. (2001) Diagnosis of babesiosis using an immunoblot serologic test. Clin Diagn Lab Immunol 8:1177-80 |
| Ebel, G D; Spielman, A; Telford 3rd, S R (2001) Phylogeny of North American Powassan virus. J Gen Virol 82:1657-65 |
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