Associations of passerine birds, rabbits, and ticks with Borrelia miyamotoi and Borrelia andersonii in Michigan, U.S.A.

Table 1 Borrelia species infection prevalence in ticks and ear biopsies

Sample		N	*B. burgdorferi*(%)	*B. andersonii*(%)	*B. miyamotoi*(%)
Ticks from birds		2220	78 (3.5)	36 (1.6)	15 (0.7)
H. leporispalustris	larval pools	366	14 (3.8)	2 (0.5)	0
	nymphs	114	6 (5.3)	2 (1.8)	0
D. variabilis	larval pools	1	0	0	0
I. dentatus	larval pools	1467	44 (3.0)	6 (0.4)	14 (1.0)
	nymphs	263	13 (4.9)	24 (9.1)	1 (0.4)
	adult	1	0	0	0
I. scapularis	larval pools	2	0	1 (50)	0
	nymphs	6	1 (1.7)	0	0
Ticks from rabbits		131	4 (3.1)	7 (5.3)	0
H. leporispalustris	nymphs	2	0	0	0
	adults	7	0	0	0
I. dentatus	nymphs	2	0	2 (100)	0
	adults	120	4 (3.3)	5 (4.2)	0
Rabbit ear biopsies		20	4 (20)	1 (5)	0

Infection prevalence of three Borrelia spirochetes in ticks removed from birds and rabbits and rabbit ear biopsies collected in Michigan, 2004–2008. Sample sizes and infection prevalence are presented as both the sum across each sample type and specific to each tick species and life stage. The B. burgdorferi infection prevalences are taken from Hamer et al.[36]. Reported infection prevalences are considered a minimum due to a small number of additional samples with PCR bands indicative of a Borrelia species for which sequences were not obtained.

ISSN: 1756-3305