FIG. 5.

Time course PCR assays of peripheral blood from a dog infected by tick transmission. Dog A72 was experimentally infected by transmission feeding of adult-stage R. sanguineus ticks that were infected with E. canis when they fed as nymphs. Buffy coats were prepared from peripheral blood collected and stored at −80°C until DNA isolations were performed as described in the text. PCR assays with the primary primer set (A) and the nested PCR assay (B) are shown. For each panel, lane 1 represents a buffy coat collected prior to exposure, and lanes 2 to 8 represent samples collected at 33, 142, 295, 427, 617, 733, and 867 days after tick attachment, respectively. The molecular size standard (M) is a 100-bp ladder.