Inoculation of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) with Ap-V1 Or NY-18 Strains of Anaplasma Phagocytophilum and Microscopic Demonstration of Ap-V1 In Ixodes Scapularis Adults that Acquired Infection from Deer as Nymphs

Four white-tailed deer were inoculated with either the Ap-V1 or NY-18 strain of Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Ixodes scapularis nymphs were then allowed to acquistion feed on the inoculated deer and molt to adults. Only an Ap-V1 infected deer was infected persistently and able to infect nymphal Ixodes scapularis . Molted adult ticks maintained Ap-V1 infection as demonstrated by PCR and microscopy. We report, for the first time, a morphologic description of A. phagocytophilum in I. scapularis .