title: Lyme borreliosis: A neglected zoonosis in Egypt.
abstract: Borrelia burgdorferi, the causal organism of Lyme borreliosis. In Egypt, available data about the occurrence of Lyme disease are scarce and no structured studies documented the presence of Lyme borreliosis in Egyptian animals and tick reservoirs verifying its zoonotic evidence. Besides, no successful trials to isolate B. burgdorferi from clinical samples have occurred. This study was conducted to investigate B. burgdorferi infection as an emerging zoonosis neglected in Egypt. A total number of 92 animals, tick and human companion specimens were collected and subjected for culture, PCR and/or serodetection. B. burgdorferi has been detected and isolated from Egyptian animal breeds. We also detected the presence of outer surface protein A gene of B. burgdorferi by PCR as well as anti-B. burgdorferi IgM by ELISA in human contacts who were suffering from fever of unknown origin. This report represents the first systematic study on animals associated with patients suffering from febrile illness to confirm the emerging of such neglected zoonosis in Egypt.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, PO Box 12211, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rehab A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Elhelw
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, PO Box 12211, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mona I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: El-Enbaawy
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, PO Box 12211, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: ahmedsamir121@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Samir
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002417:Cattle; D004285:Dogs; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D008074:Lipoproteins; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D008074:Lipoproteins; C072045:OspA protein
keywords: B. burgdorferi; Detection; Egypt; Isolation