The Effects of Soil Texture Characteristics on the Distribution of Metarhizium anisopliae and its Impact on Lyme Disease Transmission

Lyme disease, the result of infection with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States. Lyme disease transmission in humans is not fully understood, but the distribution of the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is a central factor. I. scapularis is the primary vector for B. burgdorferi in the northeastern United States, and the arthropod is susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi, including Metarhizium anisopliae. Entomopathogenic fungi are found in soil and are parasitic to arthropods, often resulting in fatality. Little is known about th... Mehr ...