Lyme borreliosis, or Lyme disease (LD), is a tick-borne zoonotic infection of 
biomedical significance, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) 
spirochetes and transmitted by Ixodes species ticks. It usually circulates among 
wildlife vertebrate reservoirs and vector ticks but may infect humans, causing 
multisystem problems. In far western and northern North America, the host 
reservoirs, tick vectors, and genospecies of Borrelia are well known but not so 
in the southern U.S., where there is controversy as to the presence of "true" 
LD. Here we report the presence of the LD spirochete B. burgdorferi sensu 
stricto (s.s.) and Borrelia bissettii, three main reservoir hosts, and two 
enzootic tick vectors in the southeastern U.S. The two enzootic tick vectors, 
Ixodes affinis and Ixodes minor, rarely bite humans but are more important than 
the human biting "bridge" vector, Ixodes scapularis, in maintaining the enzootic 
spirochete cycle in nature. We also report extraordinary longevities and 
infections in the reservoir rodents Peromyscus gossypinus, Sigmodon hispidus, 
and Neotoma floridana.