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White-Tailed Deer: Incompetent Hosts of Lyme Spirochetes

 

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases (Pearson, P. et al.) published “White-Tailed Deer Serum Kills the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi” ahead of print on 3.21.23. In this study, researchers used an in-vitro serum sensitivity assay to determine that serum of white-tailed deer kills Lyme spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi).

A number of competent vertebrate reservoirs maintain the Lyme spirochete, in nature, however white-tailed deer are considered to be non competent reservoirs for this bacteria. The ability of white-tailed deer serum to kill the Lyme spirochete likely contributes to white-tailed deer being unable to harbor or transmit the Lyme spirochete to vectors that feed on them.


For more information:

Read the article in Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases

Read more about Lyme and white-tailed deer