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. 1993 Feb;31(2):318–322. doi: 10.1128/jcm.31.2.318-322.1993

Serologic analysis of white-tailed deer sera for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western immunoblotting.

J S Gill 1, R G McLean 1, D F Neitzel 1, R C Johnson 1
PMCID: PMC262758  PMID: 8432818

Abstract

White-tailed deer serum samples were collected in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., metropolitan area during the fall and winter months from 1989 to 1992 and analyzed for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme borreliosis. Ninety-eight percent of the serum samples were collected from regions where currently the vector tick, Ixodes dammini, is nonexistent. Antibodies to B. burgdorferi were detected in 2.2% of 508 samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and their presence was confirmed by Western immunoblot analysis. Western immunoblotting yielded mean numbers of reactive bands of 0.1 and 6.0 for samples that were negative and positive for antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. The molecular weights of the antigens in many of the reactive bands from positive samples were similar to the molecular weights of antigens reactive with samples from humans with Lyme borreliosis. An antibody response to the major outer surface proteins A and B was not detected. Serologic analysis of deer sera may provide a valuable method for surveillance programs designed to monitor the spread of B. burgdorferi in nature.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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