Duration of Tick Bites in a Lyme Disease-endemic Area
Open Access
- 15 January 1996
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in American Journal of Epidemiology
- Vol. 143 (2) , 187-192
- https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a008728
Abstract
Regression equations, based on scutal index (body length/scutal width), were developed to determine the duration of attachment for nymphal and adult female Ixodes scapularis ticks. Feeding times were calculated for 444 nymphal and 300 female ticks submitted by bite victims between 1985 and 1989 in Westchester County, New York, an area where Lyme disease is highly endemic. Nymphs were attached for a mean of 34.7 hours, with 26.8%removed after 48 hours, the critical time for transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi. Attachment times increased with victim age class (Kruskal-Wallis test, рAm J Epidemiol 1996;143:187–92Keywords
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