Organisms Commons^™

Exploring Stable Isotope Analysis For The Identification Of Prior Tick Hosts, Kiprian Gernat

Honors Theses

Lyme disease is a pervasive illness caused by the transmission of the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi from the bite of an infected black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis. Ticks initially obtain the spirochete by feeding on an infected animal host. Ticks feed on a broad range of hosts, but some of these hosts are more competent carriers of Lyme disease and more readily transmit B. burgdorferi to feeding ticks. Thus, knowing what host a tick has fed on could provide valuable information in studying the transmission of Lyme disease. However, studying the relationships between ticks and their hosts has proved to be …