Using cryo-electron tomography, we observed closely associated Borrelia cells. Some of these showed a single outer membrane surrounding two longitudinally arranged cytoplasmic cylinders. We also observed fusion of two cytoplasmic cylinders and differences in the surface layer density of fused spirochetes. These processes could play a role in the interaction of Borrelia species with the host’s immune system.
Emerging and resurging vector-borne diseases cause significant
morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. We
focus on how advances in mapping, Geographic Information System,
and Decision Support System technologies, and progress in spatial
and space-time modeling, can be harnessed to prevent and control
these diseases. Major themes, which are addressed using examples
from tick-borne Lyme disease; flea-borne plague; and
mosquito-borne dengue, malaria, and West Nile virus disease,
include (a) selection of spatial and space-time modeling
techniques, (b) importance of using high-quality and biologically
or epidemiologically relevant data, (c) incorporation of new
technologies into operational vector and disease control
programs, (d) transfer of map-based information to stakeholders,
and (e) adaptation of technology solutions for use in
resource-poor environments. We see great potential for the use of
new technologies and approaches to more effectively target
limited surveillance, prevention, and control resources and to
reduce vector-borne and other infectious diseases. Expected final
online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology
Volume 56 is December 03, 2010.
We describe a 37-year-old woman who presented with bilateral pleural effusion combined with intermittent low grade fever. Lyme disease was confirmed by seroreactivities against Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes. The unique clinical findings reveal a rare manifestation with a possible association between B. burgdorferi infection and pleural effusion.
This study was undertaken to determine which rodent species serve
as primary reservoirs for the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia
burgdorferi in commonly occurring woodland types in inland areas
of northwestern California, and to examine whether chaparral or
grassland serve as source habitats for dispersal of B.
burgdorferi- or B. bissettii-infected rodents into adjacent
woodlands. The western gray squirrel (Sciurus griseus) was
commonly infected with B.
burgdorferi in oak woodlands, whereas examination of 30
dusky-footed woodrats (Neotoma fuscipes) and 280 Peromyscus spp.
mice from 13 widely spaced Mendocino County woodlands during 2002
and 2003 yielded only one infected woodrat and one infected deer
mouse (P. maniculatus). These data suggest that western gray
squirrels account for the majority of production by rodents of
fed Ixodes pacificus larvae infected with B. burgdorferi in the
woodlands sampled.
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is the causative agent
of Lyme borreliosis in humans. This inflammatory disease can
affect the skin, the peripheral and central nervous system, the
musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system and rarely the eyes.
Early stages are directly associated with viable bacteria at the
site of inflammation. The pathogen-host interaction is complex
and has been elucidated only in part. B. burgdorferi is highly
susceptible to antibiotic treatment and the majority of patients
profit from this treatment
Current thinking emphasizes the primacy of CD14 in facilitating
recognition of microbes by certain TLRs to initiate pro-inflammatory
signaling events and the importance of p38-MAPK in augmenting such
responses. Herein, this paradigm is challenged by demonstrating that
recognition of live Borrelia burgdorferi not only triggers an
inflammatory response in the absence of CD14, but one that is, in part,
a consequence of altered PI3K/AKT/p38-MAPK signaling and impaired
negative regulation of TLR2. CD14 deficiency results in increased
localization of PI3K to lipid rafts, hyperphosphorylation of AKT, and
reduced activation of p38. Such aberrant signaling leads to decreased
negative regulation by SOCS1, SOCS3, and CIS, thereby compromising the
induction of tolerance in macrophages and engendering more severe and
persistent inflammatory responses to B. burgdorferi. Importantly, these
altered signaling events and the higher cytokine production observed can
be mimicked through shRNA and pharmacological inhibition of p38 activity
in CD14-expressing macrophages. Perturbation of this
CD14/p38-MAPK-dependent immune regulation may underlie development of
infectious chronic inflammatory syndromes.
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Program in Gene Function and Expression, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605; Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Continued
To delineate the inflammatory potential of the 3 pathogenic species of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, we stimulated monocyte-derived macrophages from healthy human donors with 10 isolates each of B. burgdorferi, Borrelia afzelii, or Borrelia garinii recovered from erythema migrans skin lesions of patients with Lyme borreliosis from the United States or Slovenia. B. burgdorferi isolates from the United States induced macrophages to secrete significantly higher levels of interleukin (IL)-8, CCL3, CCL4, IL-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor than B. garinii or B. afzelii isolates. Consistent with this response in cultured macrophages, chemokine and cytokine levels in serum samples of patients from whom the isolates were obtained were significantly greater in B. burgdorferi-infected patients than in B. afzelii- or B. garinii-infected patients. These results demonstrate in vitro and in vivo that B. burgdorferi has greater inflammatory potential than B. afzelii and B. garinii, which may account in part for variations in the clinical manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. Continued
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Current thinking emphasizes the primacy of CD14 in facilitating
