I am a masters degree student at Keele university and I am studying the tick
Ixodes ricinus. I want to investigate whether the ticks are infected with
Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease.
I know of two techniques that exist to do this:
an immunofluorescence assay, and a PCR technique, However,
I cannot find a source of the nessecary antibodies, or of the relevant
primers (The primer is the B. burgdorferi flagellin gene). I would be
extremely grateful if anyone who knows of a source of these products would
contact me either via the newsgroups, or by E-MAILing me on
P6R38 at cc.keele.ac.uk. Also if anyone knows of another technique that could
be used to detect the presence of the spirochaete in the tick, I would be
extremely grateful (especially as I was bitten by one of the ticks!!!).
Thanking you in advance...
DAVE HULSE
