Tick collection from wild birds and detection of Lyme disease spirochetes from a new avian reservoir in Japan

Abstract

Five species of ticks consisted of 3 genera were collected from 30 species of wild birds of 12 families in 1993-1999 in Japan. From those ticks, the fresh tick was examined for Lyme disease spirochetes. The agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia garinii, was isolated from the larval stage of Ixodes persulcatus ticks fed on Emberiza rustica and E. spodocephala in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture. This is a newly recorded avian reservoir for Lyme disease spirochete in the northern part of Honshu Island of Japan.