| detection of borrelia burgdorferi dna in museum specimens of peromyscus leucopus. | to determine whether borrelia burgdorferi was enzootic within the united states at the beginning of the 20th century, ear skin samples taken from museum specimens of the white-footed mouse (peromyscus leucopus) were examined for evidence of spirochetal dna. in total, 280 samples from mice collected between 1870 and 1919 were analyzed by a nested polymerase chain reaction protocol. of these, 2 specimens from the vicinity of dennis, massachusetts, during 1894 were reproducibly positive for b. burg ... | 1994 | 7930700 |