ArticleParasites & vectors2020
Comparative vector competence of North American Lyme disease vectors.
Article in Parasites & vectors, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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15 citing papers in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Spring fever: early spring predicts Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae) activity in northwestern California.Journal of medical entomology · 2025Article
- Molecular-based laboratory testing confer accuracy over microscopical testing for tick identification.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Article
- High seroprevalence of selected vector-borne pathogens in dogs from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands.Parasites & vectors · 2025Article
- Differential susceptibility of geographically distinctEmerging microbes & infections · 2024Article
- The roles of habitat isolation, landscape connectivity and host community in tick-borne pathogen ecology.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Hard Ticks as Vectors: The Emerging Threat of Tick-Borne Diseases in India.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Impact of vector richness on the risk of vector-borne disease: The role of vector competence.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Perspectives of vector management in the control and elimination of vector-borne zoonoses.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Review
- Diversity and phylogeny of the tick-borne bacterial genus Candidatus Allocryptoplasma (Anaplasmataceae).Parasite (Paris, France) · 2023Article
- Grappling with the tick microbiome.Trends in parasitology · 2021Review
- Evolutionary Genetics ofCurrent issues in molecular biology · 2021Review
- Article
- Evolutionary ecology of Lyme Borrelia.Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding the drivers of Lyme disease incidence at broad spatial scales is critical for predicting and mitigating human disease risk. Previous studies have identified vector phenology and behavior, host community composition, and landscape features as drivers of variable Lyme disease risk. However, while the Lyme disease transmission cycles in the eastern and western USA involve different vector species (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus, respectively), the role of vector-specific differences in transmission efficiency has not been directly examined. By comparing the performance of traits involved in vector competence between these two species, this study aims to identify how vector competence contributes to variable Lyme disease risk.
methodsWe used a suite of laboratory experiments to compare the performance of traits related to vector competence for the two USA Lyme disease vectors. For each species, we measured the rate of attachment to a common rodent host, the engorgement weight, and the efficiency of pathogen acquisition (host to tick) and pathogen transmission (tick to host) from laboratory mice. In measuring pathogen acquisition and transmission, we used two different pathogen strains, one sympatric with I. scapularis and one sympatric with I. pacificus, to assess the importance of vector-pathogen coevolutionary history in transmission dynamics.
resultsWe found I. pacificus had significantly higher host attachment success and engorgement weights, but significantly lower pathogen transmission efficiency relative to I. scapularis. Molting success and pathogen acquisition did not differ between these two species. However, pathogen acquisition efficiency was significantly higher for both sympatric vector and pathogen strains than the allopatric pairings.
conclusionsThis study identified species-specific vector traits as a potential driver of broad scale variation in Lyme disease risk in the USA. In particular, the exceedingly low rates of pathogen transmission from tick to host observed for I. pacificus may limit Lyme disease transmission efficiency in the western USA. Further, observed variation in pathogen acquisition between sympatric and allopatric vector-pathogen strains indicate that vector-pathogen coevolutionary history may play a key role in transmission dynamics. These findings underscore the need to consider vector traits and vector-pathogen coevolution as important factors governing regional Lyme disease risk.
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