Lyme Disease in Canada

Twenty-seven samples that had banding patterns consistent with D. variabilis from British Columbia were confirmed to be D. similis. One sample from Alberta and five from Saskatchewan were confirmed to be D. variabilis and seven samples from British Columbia were D. andersoni. The ITS-2 amplicons were not useful for differentiating between D. variabilis and D. similis. These results provide evidence of D. similis in western Canada and highlight that sequences of the mitochondrial genes are effective for distinguishing D. andersoni, D. variabilis, and D. similis.