Prevalence of Powassan Virus and Co-infection of Lyme Disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) in Ixodes scapularis from New Jersey and Pennsylvania Black Bears (Ursus americanus)

The blacklegged tick is the main vector for Lyme disease and Powassan virus Lineage II (Deer Tick Virus) in the United States. The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of Powassan virus (DTV) and Lyme disease in adult and nymph blacklegged ticks collected in New Jersey (2015-2018) and Pennsylvania (2017-2018). All ticks were collected from lived trapped or hunter harvested black bears (Ursus americanus). A total of 2,713 ticks were collected, made up of four species. Only blacklegged ticks were analyzed in this study. Real-time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was used to amplify cDNA specific to the NS5 gene of POW Lineage II, and qPCR was used to amplify the 16s-23s intergenic spacer region rDNA of Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease). A minimum infection rate (MIR) of 3.52% was determined for Powassan vitus and a MIR of 19.2% for Lyme disease. The findings in this study were similar to previous studies conducted for Powassan and Lyme prevalence in Lyme endemic region.