A newly identified tick-borne Borrelia species and relapsing fever in Tanzania.
Tick-borne relapsing fever caused by the spirochaete Borrelia duttonii is a common cause of serious illness in central Tanzania. Screening of Ornithodoros sp ticks from infested houses for the presence of B duttonii had detected a previously unidentified species of Borrelia. We investigated whether this species infected the human population in a central Tanzanian village, by use of blood slide examination and PCR. PCR was twice as sensitive in detection of infections, showing Borrelia sp in six (11%) of 54 children with fever, and in 13 (4%) of 307 otherwise healthy children. Genotyping Borrelia from 17 infections identified Borrelia duttonii and an unnamed species. Our findings show that the newly discovered species is a causal agent of tick-borne relapsing fever.
Vector Research Group, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place, L3 5QA, Liverpool, UK.
William N
WN
Kisinza
P J
PJ
McCall
Harumi
H
Mitani
Alison
A
Talbert
Masahito
M
Fukunaga
D001898:Borrelia / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D012061:Relapsing Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology