Lyme disease is the most commonly-reported vector-borne disease in North America. The causative agent, Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete bacterium transmitted by Ixodid ticks. Transmission and detection of infection in animal models is optimized by the use of tick feeding, which we describe here.
Embers, M. E., Grasperge, B. J., Jacobs, M. B., Philipp, M. T. Feeding of Ticks on Animals for Transmission and Xenodiagnosis in Lyme Disease Research. J. Vis. Exp. (78), e50617, doi:10.3791/50617 (2013).