Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 11, No. 7, July 2005 1151 species. However, the new spirochete is distinct from all other known Borrelia spp. with an available 16S rDNA sequence in the GenBank database. Its partial 16S rDNA sequence differed by 3.3% to 4.2% from 9 LB group species and 2.4% to 3.4% from 15 relapsing fever group species. For comparison, intragroup sequence d...

We screened 768 tick pools containing 6,962 ticks from Khammouan Province, Laos, by using quantitative real-time PCR and identified Rickettsia spp., Ehrlichia spp., and Borrelia spp. Sequencing of Rickettsia spp.-positive and Borrelia spp.-positive pools provided evidence for distinct genotypes. Our results identified bacteria with human disease potential in ticks in Laos.

This study describes the detection of Borrelia garinii and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) in Brazilian individuals using PCR and DNA sequencing. Our results suggest that these species are emerging pathogens in this country, and additional studies are necessary to determine the epidemiological characteristics of this disease in Brazil.

The seropositivity of dogs to Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, and Ehrlichia canis antibodies, and Dirofilaria immitis antigen was assessed in Canada. Borrelia burgdorferi had the highest seroprevalence, while that of Dirofilaria immitis has not changed significantly in the past 20 y. The risk for these vector-borne infectious agents in Canadian dogs is low but widespread with f...

The Texas Department of Health Laboratory began culturing the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi in 1985. This organism was subsequently isolated from blood, cerebrospinal fluid, joint fluid, skin, bone, and autopsy tissues from humans. Fluorescent-antibody tests with murine monoclonal antibodies confirmed that seven of these isolates were B. burgdorferi and that two others belonged t...

We report here the genome sequence of Borrelia garinii strain 935T isolated from Ixodes persulcatus in South Korea. The 1,176,739 bp (G+C content, 27.73%) genome consists of 1,194 coding regions, 4 rRNA genes, and 33 aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes. This is the first whole-genome report of a Korean Borrelia species isolate.

The first human isolate of Borrelia lusitaniae recovered from a Portuguese patient with suspected Lyme borreliosis is described. This isolate, from a chronic skin lesion, is also the first human isolate of Borrelia in Portugal. Different phenotypic and molecular methods are used to characterize it.

Borrelia miyamotoi, of the relapsing-fever spirochete group, is an emerging tick-borne pathogen causing human illness in the northern hemisphere. Here, we present the chromosome, eight extrachromosomal linear plasmids, and a draft sequence for five circular and one linear plasmid of a Borrelia miyamotoi strain isolated from an Ixodes sp. tick from Connecticut, USA.

Borrelia burgdorferi B31 cells lacking all linear plasmids or all but the 49-kb linear plasmid expressed the otherwise silent gene for the outer membrane protein OspC. In the first demonstration of a function for a circular plasmid of Borrelia spp., ospC was located on a 27-kb circular plasmid of B31.

Bulgarian Ixodes ricinus ticks were examined for Ehrlichia and Borrelia coinfection: 34 and 32% of adult ticks and at least 2 and 10% of nymphs were positive for these infections, respectively. Coinfections and dual or triple Borrelia infections were frequent, although Ehrlichia phagocytophila heterogeneity was minimal. Multiple tick-borne bacteria coexist in I. ricinus ticks in southeastern Eu...