Publications

isolation and characterization of borrelia burgdorferi from blood of a bird captured in the saint croix river valley.	field investigations were conducted to further evaluate the role of birds in the maintenance and dissemination of borrelia burgdorferi. blood specimens were taken from 39 passerine birds of 17 species captured during june 1991 at the saint croix national riverway in wisconsin, and one isolate, wi91-23, was cultured from an adult song sparrow (melospiza melodia). this isolate was shown to be infectious for peromyscus leucopus and mesocricetus auratus (golden hamster). isolate wi91-23 was confirme ...	1993	8370728
birds disperse ixodid (acari: ixodidae) and borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks in canada.	a total of 152 ixodid ticks (acari: ixodidae) consisting of nine species was collected from 82 passerine birds (33 species) in 14 locations in canada from 1996 to 2000. the lyme disease spirochete borrelia burgdorferi johnson, schmidt, hyde, steigerwaldt & brenner was cultured from the nymph of a blacklegged tick, ixodes scapularis say, that had been removed from a common yellowthroat, geothlypis trichas l., from bon portage island, nova scotia. as a result of bird movement, a nymphal i. scapula ...	2001	11476328
reservoir competence of native north american birds for the lyme disease spirochete, borrelia burgdorfieri.	reservoir competence for the lyme disease spirochete, borrelia burgdorferi, was tested for six species of native north american birds: american robin, gray catbird, brown thrasher, eastern towhee, song sparrow, and northern cardinal. wild birds collected by mist netting on fire island, ny, were held in a field laboratory in cages over water and locally collected larval ticks were placed on the birds, harvested from the water after engorgement, and tested for infection by direct fluorescentantibo ...	2005	15962798
detection of lyme disease spirochete, borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, including three novel genotypes in ticks (acari: ixodidae) collected from songbirds (passeriformes) across canada.	lyme disease is reported across canada, but pinpointing the source of infection has been problematic. in this three-year, bird-tick-pathogen study (2004-2006), 366 ticks representing 12 species were collected from 151 songbirds (31 passerine species/subspecies) at 16 locations canada-wide. of the 167 ticks/pools tested, 19 (11.4%) were infected with borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.). sequencing of the rrf-rrl intergenic spacer gene revealed four borrelia genotypes: b. burgdorferi sensu stri ...	2010	20618658
Widespread dispersal of Borrelia burgdorferi-infected ticks collected from songbirds across Canada.	Abstract Millions of Lyme disease vector ticks are dispersed annually by songbirds across Canada, but often overlooked as the source of infection. For clarity on vector distribution, we sampled 481 ticks (12 species and 3 undetermined ticks) from 211 songbirds (42 species/subspecies) nationwide. Using PCR, 52 (29.5%) of 176 Ixodes ticks tested were positive for the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. Immature blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, collected from infested songbird ...	2011	21864130