NEST ASSOCIATED TRANSMISSION OF IXODES BORNE ZOONOSES

我们试图找出调节循环的因素 开发鹿虱、达米尼硬蜱，促进 莱姆病毒剂对人类感染的强度 美国东北部的疾病和巴贝斯虫病。这个 若虫幼虫阶段在时间上的独特优势 在每个传播季节内的幼虫加强了 传递，以及不同阶段的冬眠行为 为病原体的季节间存活提供了条件。为了解释这些 关系，我们将确定季节性变化是否 光或温度的模式调节着季节的活动 扁虱通过影响：(1)发育速度，(2)探索 行为，(3)从小鼠的巢中散去，(4)交配 行为。在一系列相关的观察中，我们将确定 (5)耐水性是否限制季节性；(6)是否 硬蜱滞育和存活的特定发育阶段 冷得要命。一系列平行的研究将在以下方面进行 与食兔有关的扁虱，I.Dentatus，在一个 单季和与幼虫共同出现的。这样做的结果 综合现场和实验室调查将应用于 我们长期传播点的各种顺序(7)来解释 感染如何在可用主机 以及新的虫害是如何发展起来的。一种新的代表 的生命周期提供了概念基础 拟议中的实验。 这种亚成体阶段的夏季倒置，形成了 这项拟议研究的重点似乎是 东北鹿的滴答，并将有助于其特殊的 容量作为一种载体。我们预计，我们的工作将产生一个 关于鹿扁虱行为生理学的大量信息 将使我们能够更好地了解 莱姆病和人类巴贝斯虫病病原体的传播 并最终提高我们保护人类健康的能力。

We seek to identify the factors that regulate the cycle of development of the deer tick, Ixodes dammini, and promote the intensity of episodes of human infection by the agents of Lyme disease and babesiosis in the northeastern United States. The unique temporal precedence of the nymphal stage over that of the larva within each transmission season potentiates intensity of transmission, and the hibernal behavior of the various stages provides for interseason survival of pathogens. To explain these relationships, we shall determine whether seasonally changing patterns of light or temperature regulate the seasonal activity of the tick by affecting: (1) rate of development, (2) questing behavior, (3) dispersal from the nests of mice and (4) mating behavior. In a related series of observations, we shall determine whether (5) water-hardiness limits seasonality and (6) whether particular developmental stages of the tick diapause and survive freezing. A parallel series of studies will be conducted on a related rabbit-feeding tick, I. dentatus, that develops within a single season and with instars that co-occur. The results of this integrated field and laboratory investigation will be applied to various of our long-term transmission sites in order (7) to explain how infestations persist long after available hosts have disappeared and how new infestations develop. A new representation of the life-cycle of this tick provides the conceptual basis for the proposed experiments. This estival inversion of subadult stages of the vector, that forms the focus of the proposed study, appears to be unique to the northeastern deer tick and would contribute to its exceptional capacity as a vector. We anticipate that our work will produce a body of information on the behavioral physiology of deer ticks that will permit us to better understand the circumstances of transmission of the agents of Lyme disease and human babesiosis and, ultimately, to improve our ability to protect human health.