borrelia bissettii

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Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2008 Oct;8(5):623- 33. Related Articles,
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Borrelia bissettii isolates induce pathology in a murine model of
disease.

Schneider BS, Schriefer ME, Dietrich G, Dolan MC, Morshed MG,
Zeidner NS.

Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, National Center for
Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. bradley.schneider@ pasteur.fr

The spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi is a tick-borne pathogen that
causes Lyme disease. Although B. burgdorferi sensu lato is a diverse
group of bacteria, only three genospecies, B. burgdorferi sensu
stricto, Borrelia afzelii, and Borrelia garinii, are known to be
pathogenic and commonly recognized to cause human disease. To assess
the potential of another common genospecies, Borrelia bissettii, to
induce disease, a mouse model was employed. Two Colorado isolates of
B. bissettii (CO-Bb) induced lesions of the bladder, heart, and
femorotibial joint 8 weeks after inoculation into mice. In contrast,
two British Columbia (BC-Bb) isolates, could not be cultured or
amplified by PCR from target organs, and did not induce lesions.
Consistent with pathology and culture results, the antibody response
in mice to BC-Bb was minimal compared to CO-Bb, indicating either
transient localized infection or rapid immune clearance of BC-Bb.
Although sequence analysis of the rrf (5S)-rrl (23S) intergenic
spacer region indicated 99% homology between CO-Bb and BC-Bb,
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis indicated five
distinct protein differences between these low-passage isolates.
These studies support the prospect that B. bissettii may indeed be
the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis cases in Eastern Europe,
associated with the atypical Borrelia strain 25015, and in other
regions. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that B.
bissettii can induce pathology in a vertebrate host.

Publication Types:
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PMID: 18454594 [PubMed - in process]