Borrelia burgdorferi Bacteria in Domestic Animals China

Lyme disease (borreliosis) is the most prevalent tick-borne zoonotic disease in Europe, North America, and eastern Asia. Its etiologic agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, at least 4 species of B. burgdorferi sensu lato has been described in China: B. garinii, B. afzelii, B. valaisiana, B. sinica [1,2]. B. garinii was the main genotype in China, and it was distributed mainly in northern China. B. afzelii was the second most frequently found species, and it was distributed in both northern and southern China. All B. valaisiana strains were isolated from Guizhou Province [3]. Some B. sinica strains were recently isolated in some regions of the Yangtze River valley [2,3]. But for B. burgdorferi, it seems to be absent from Asia, apart from a case report of B. burgdorferi from several different rodents in Taiwan [4]. B. burgdorferi is mainly associated with arthritic forms of Lyme disease. B. garinii is frequently associated with neurological manifestations, and B. afielii seems to be the exclusive agent of late cutaneous lesions of acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (PickHerxheimer disease) [5]. We determined the prevalence of B. burgdorferi bacteria in domestic animals in the north of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China.