Natural History of Borrelia lonestari

描述（由申请方提供）：南方蜱相关皮疹疾病（STARI）是一种新描述的莱姆病样感染，报告自美国东南部和中南部，由疏螺旋体引起。我们的长期目标是了解导致蜱传细菌病原体在自然界中维持以及这些病原体从宿主-蜱媒维持周期传播给人类的风险因素。作为我们追求该目标的下一个目标，我们在本申请中提出描绘疏螺旋体的自然史。我们的中心假设是，疏螺旋体Ionestari是保持在自然界中通过一个循环，涉及白尾鹿作为主要水库主机和孤独的星星蜱作为主要载体，这个系统可以被利用来开发一个地理信息系统（GIS）为基础的模型，预测人类感染的风险最大的地区。拟议研究背后的基本原理是，迄今为止收集的田间和实验感染数据表明，在鹿-孤星星蜱储库系统中维持着疏螺旋体感染。为了实现本申请的目的，我们将追求四个具体目标：（1）确认疏螺旋体Ionestari维持在涉及白尾鹿作为储存宿主和孤星星蜱作为媒介的循环中;（2）使用白尾鹿作为哨兵和孤星星蜱作为区域中存在感染的确认指示物来定义疏螺旋体Ionestari在美国的地理分布;（3）鉴定可能参与疏螺旋体自然史的其他潜在野生脊椎动物储库宿主和蜱媒介;和（4）评估啮齿动物作为实验感染疏螺旋体的潜在模型。在这项研究完成后，我们希望已经完全描绘了Borrelia Ionestari的自然历史，我们还希望已经确定了这种病原体的地理分布，既详细研究了这种生物体的景观流行病学，又可以确定人类感染风险高的地区。最终，从拟议的研究中获得的Borrelia Ionestari自然史模型将提高对美国南部STARI和莱姆疏螺旋体病的理解，在人们有感染风险的地区加强公共卫生工作;应减少这些病原体引起的人类疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI) is a newly-described Lyme disease-like infection reported from the southeastern and south central United States caused by Borrelia Ionestari. Our long-range goal is to understand the risk factors that conspire to allow maintenance of tick-borne bacterial pathogens in nature and transmission of these pathogens from the reservoir host-tick vector maintenance cycle to people. As our next objective in pursuit of this goal, we propose in this application to delineate the natural history of Borrelia Ionestari. Our central hypothesis is that Borrelia Ionestari is maintained in nature through a cycle involving white-tailed deer as primary reservoir host and lone star ticks as predominant vector, and that this system can be exploited to develop a geographic information system (GIS)-based model that predicts areas where humans are at greatest risk of infection. The rationale behind the proposed research is that field and experimental infection data collected to date indicate infection with Borrelia Ionestari is maintained in a deer-lone star tick reservoir system. To accomplish the objectives of this application, we will pursue four specific aims: (1) confirm that Borrelia Ionestari is maintained in a cycle involving white-tailed deer as reservoir host and lone star ticks as vector; (2) define the geographic distribution of Borrelia Ionestari in the United States using white-tailed deer as sentinels and lone star ticks as confirmatory indicators of the presence of infection in an area; (3) identify other potential wild vertebrate reservoir hosts and tick vectors that may be involved in the natural history of Borrelia Ionestari; and (4) evaluate rodents as a potential model for experimental infection with Borrelia Ionestari. At the completion of this research, we expect to have fully delineated the natural history of Borrelia Ionestari We also expect to have defined the geographic distribution of this pathogen in a manner that both examines the landscape epidemiology of this organism in detail and allows identification of areas where risk of human infection is high. Ultimately, the model of the natural history of Borrelia Ionestari gained from the proposed research will improve understanding of both STARI and Lyme borreliosis in the southern U.S., enhancing public health efforts in those areas where people are risk of infection; reduction in human disease from these pathogens should result.