Figure 1.

Plasma of I. ricinus exhibits no borreliacidal activity against B. afzelii spirochetes. Spirochetes were incubated for 24 h in the presence of BSK-H medium (negative control), I. ricinus hemocyte-free plasma, bovine serum or heat-inactivated bovine serum. Numbers of live Borrelia were normalized to 1 ml volume. This result demonstrates that complement-like molecules in tick hemolymph do not exert borreliacidal effects similar to that of the complement system present in bovine serum. Data were analyzed by non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test.