BIRDS ARE SUSPECTED AS LYME DISEASE HOSTS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short
BIRDS ARE SUSPECTED AS LYME DISEASE HOSTS
Birds may provide an important home for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, a study says.
Mammals rather than birds have been considered the main reservoirs for the bacteria among backboned animals, Swedish researchers noted in today's issue of the journal Nature.
They did their study in a place with no mammals, the Baltic Sea island of Bonden near Sweden. They found the Lyme disease bacteria in a type of tick that bites seabirds, and tests suggested that the bacteria had infected one bird.
Lyme disease occurs in people when they are infected by the bacteria, called Borrelia burgdorferi, from infected ticks. If untreated, Lyme disease can cause joint and nervous system damage.
- Associated Press

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB