Borrelia burgdorferi, deer tick, Iowa ticks, Ixodes dammini, Lyme disease
A statewide study to evaluate the presence, distribution and abundance of the deer tick, Ixodes dammini, and the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorfen, in Iowa was initiated in 1989. Six hundred and seventy-one tick collections were received from health professionals, conservation employees and concerned citizens. Additional ticks were obtained by flagging, small mammal trapping and deer checks in selected areas of Iowa. Nine I. dammini were collected in 1989 from seven counties in the eastern half of the state. Six of these were tested for B. burgdorferi and all were negative. Flagging, small mammal trapping and deer checks in eastern Iowa failed to produce I. dammini in 1989. However, in May 1990 and dammini female collected by a turkey hunter in Allamakee Co. tested positive for B. burgdoiferi. Subsequent flagging in this area yielded I. dammini adults, 19% of which were infected. Additionally, I. dammini larvae and nymphs were collected from Peromyscus leucopus. This is the first evidence of I. dammini establishment and B. burgdoiferi presence in Iowa.
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science
© Copyright 1991 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.
Novak, Mark G.; Rowley, Wayne A.; Platt, Kenneth B.; Bartholomew, David M.; and Senne, Michelle D.
"lxodes dammini (Acari, Ixodidae) and Borrelia burgdorferi in Iowa,"
Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 98(2), 99-101.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol98/iss2/15