title: Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and Borrelia garinii alters the course of murine Lyme borreliosis.
abstract: Ixodes ricinus ticks and mice can be infected with both Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and Borrelia garinii. The effect of coinfection with these two Borrelia species on the development of murine Lyme borreliosis is unknown. Therefore, we investigated whether coinfection with the nonarthritogenic B. garinii strain PBi and the arthritogenic B. burgdorferi sensu stricto strain B31 alters murine Lyme borreliosis. Mice simultaneously infected with PBi and B31 showed significantly more paw swelling and arthritis, long-standing spirochetemia, and higher numbers of B31 spirochetes than did mice infected with B31 alone. However, the number of PBi spirochetes was significantly lower in coinfected mice than in mice infected with PBi alone. In conclusion, simultaneous infection with B. garinii and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto results in more severe Lyme borreliosis. Moreover, we suggest that competition of the two Borrelia species within the reservoir host could have led to preferential maintenance, and a rising prevalence, of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto in European I. ricinus populations.
authors.affiliation: Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. j.w.hovius@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Joppe W R
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Hovius
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Nandhini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ramamoorthi
authors.forename: Alje P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.forename: Stephen W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Barthold
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van der Poll
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Speelman
authors.forename: Erol
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fikrig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001170:Arthritis, Infectious / Q000382:microbiology; D016470:Bacteremia; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004487:Edema; D035002:Lower Extremity; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial