The hosts involved in transmitting the bacteria that cause Lyme disease

In Europe, animals that act as reservoir hosts for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease are rodents (mice, voles, squirrels), shrews and hedgehogs, hares and birds (reviewed by (25)).

Lyme disease risk, and the proportion of ticks that are infected, is likely to depend on both the numbers of reservoir hosts and the numbers of hosts that carry large numbers of ticks but cannot transmit the pathogen (such as deer – see “Ticks – things we are not so sure about” which discusses the controversial role of deer in the risk of disease).

In Europe, mammals  that act as reservoir hosts for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. are rodents (mice, voles, squirrels), shrews and hedgehogs, hares and birds (reviewed by (25)).