First culture isolation of Borrelia lonestari, putative agent of southern tick-associated rash illness.

ABSTRACT: Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI) is a Lyme disease-like infection described in patients in the southeastern and south-central United States, where classic Lyme disease is relatively rare. STARI develops following the bite of a lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum) and is thought to be caused by infection with an "uncultivable" spirochete tentatively named Borrelia lonestari. In this study, wild lone star ticks collected from an area where B. lonestari is endemic were cocultured in an established embryonic tick cell line (ISE6). The cultures were examined by dark-field microscopy for evidence of infection, and spirochete identity and morphology were evaluated by flagellin B and 16S rRNA gene sequence, by reaction to Borrelia-wide and B. burgdorferi-specific monoclonal antibodie

SUBMITTER: Varela AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC356874 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature