Detection of DNA in Deer Keds: Massachusetts, USA.

Deer keds ( spp. and ) are hematophagous ectoparasites that primarily infest white-tailed deer () and other cervids in the United States. The distribution of deer keds in the northeastern United States and the pathogens they harbor remains relatively unexplored.

Effects of Inosine-5'-monophosphate Dehydrogenase (IMPDH/GuaB) Inhibitors on Growth in Standard and Modified Culture Conditions.

's inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH, GuaB encoded by the gene) is a potential therapeutic target. GuaB is necessary for replication in mammalian hosts but not in standard laboratory culture conditions. Therefore, we cannot test novel GuaB inhibitors against without utilizing mammalian infection models.

Differential Resistance of Clones to Human Serum-Mediated Killing Does Not Correspond to Their Predicted Invasiveness.

Reservoir host associations have been observed among and within genospecies, and host complement-mediated killing is a major determinant in these interactions. In North America, only a subset of lineages cause the majority of disseminated infections in humans. We hypothesize that differential resistance to human complement-mediated killing may be a major phenotypic determinant of whether a lineage can establish systemic infection.

White-Tailed Deer Serum Kills the Lyme Disease Spirochete, .

is a human pathogen vectored by ticks and maintained in nature by a suite of competent vertebrate reservoirs. White-tailed deer (WTD) are considered to be noncompetent reservoirs for . Sera from other deer species have been found to be borreliacidal, and similar mechanisms could explain the lack of reservoir competence of WTD.