Seroprevalence and seroconversion for tick-borne diseases in a high-risk population in the northeast United States.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of serologic reactivity, the 1-year incidence of seroconversion, and the frequency of multiple infections, and their associations with symptoms in a group of volunteers at high risk for tick-borne infections in New York state.

Methods: We performed a seroepidemiologic study of Lyme borreliosis, 2 of the ehrlichioses, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and babesiosis among 671 participants who lived or worked in a high-risk area (mainly in eastern Long Island, New York) for tick-borne diseases. Sera were collected in the winters of 1994 and 1995.

Characterization of the physiological requirements for the bactericidal effects of a monoclonal antibody to OspB of Borrelia burgdorferi by confocal microscopy.

A confocal microscopy study was undertaken to characterize the bactericidal effects of the Fab fragments of CB2, an immunoglobulin G1kappa murine monoclonal antibody, to an epitope in the carboxy region of the outer surface protein B (OspB) of Borrelia burgdorferi. Simultaneous direct labeling of both fixed and live spirochetes with fluorochrome-labeled Fab-CB2 and 11G1, and an immunoglobulin Mkappa monoclonal antibody to OspA, showed that OspA and OspB seem to colocalize in dead spirochetes but do not appear to be physically associated when the organisms are alive. A polar bleb composed of a Fab-CB2-OspB complex, followed by incorporation of 11G1-OspA, precedes the formation of a spheroplast.