About the Authors

Elizabeth R. Gleim

egleim@gmail.com

Affiliations Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America, Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America, Wildlife Laboratory, Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway, Newton, Georgia, United States of America

L. Mike Conner

Affiliation Wildlife Laboratory, Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center at Ichauway, Newton, Georgia, United States of America

Roy D. Berghaus

Affiliation Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America

Michael L. Levin

Affiliation Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Galina E. Zemtsova

Affiliation Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rickettsial Zoonoses Branch, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Michael J. Yabsley

Affiliations Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America, Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ERG LMC MLL MJY. Performed the experiments: ERG GEZ. Analyzed the data: ERG RDB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LMC MLL MJY. Wrote the paper: ERG LMC RDB MLL GEZ MJY.