All Posts Tagged With: "B. burgdorferi sensu stricto"

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20844223&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Members of the genus Borrelia are among the most common
infectious agents causing tick-borne disease in humans worldwide.
Here, we developed a Light Upon
eXtension(TM) (LUX) real-time PCR assay that can detect and
quantify Borrelia species in ticks that have fed on humans, and
we applied the assay to 399 such ticks. Borrelia PCR-positive
ticks were identified to species by sequencing the products of
conventional PCR performed using Borrelia group-specific primers.
There was a 19% prevalence of Borrelia spp. in the detached
ticks, and the number of spirochetes per Borrelia PCR-positive
tick ranged from 2.0 x 10(2) to
4.9 x 10(5) with a median of 7.8 x 10(3) spirochetes. Adult ticks
had a significantly larger number of spirochetes with a median of
8.4 x 10(4) compared to the median of nymphs 4.4 x 10(4). Adult
ticks also exhibited higher prevalence of Borrelia (33%) compared
to nymphs (14%). Among the identified species, Borrelia afzelii
was found to predominate (61%), followed by B. garinii (23%), B.
valaisiana (13%), B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (1%), B.
lusitaniae (1%), and B. miyamotoi-like (1%). Also, 3% of the
ticks were co-infected with multiple strains of B. afzelii.
Notably, this is the first report of B.
lusitaniae being detected in ticks in Sweden. 

Background: Morphea, granuloma annulare (GA) and lichen sclerosus et atrophicans (LSA) have also been suggested to be linked to Borrelia infection. Previous studies based on serologic data or detection of Borrelia by immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) reported contradictory results. Thus, we examined skin biopsies of morphea, GA and LSA by PCR to assess the prevalence of Borrelia DNA in an endemic area and to compare our results with data in the literature.

Methods: Amplification of DNA sequences of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato by nested PCR from formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded skin biopsies of morphea, GA and LSA, followed by automated sequencing of amplification products. PCR-based studies on Borrelia species in these disorders published until July 2009 were retrieved by a literature search. Continued

Passage through Ixodes scapularis ticks enhances the virulence of a weakly pathogenic isolate of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Adusumilli S, Booth CJ, Anguita J, Fikrig E. Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America; Section of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America; Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States of America.

Continued