The development and modes of transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi during blood feeding of Ixodes ricinus were evaluated. Our results show that during the slow engorgement phase, the Lyme disease spirochete, B. burgdorferi ingested two hours before a blood meal or transmitted transstadially from the nymphs, multiplies in the midgut lumen of I. ricinus females. The deeper parts of the midgut diverticula appeared to be the preferred sites for this spirochete. In some gut-infected ticks, a few spirochetes can penetrate the midgut wall and induce a systemic infection, while the overwhelming majority of spirochetes persist in the midgut. Presence of B. burgdorferi in hemocoel, and in both acini and ducts of the salivary glands, leads us to suppose a salivary transmission of this spirochete by I. ricinus females.
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Gern et al. (1990) studied this question.
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