A divergent spirochete strain isolated from a resident of the southeastern United States was identified by multilocus sequence typing as Borrelia bissettii.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Out of 20 spirochete species from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex recognized to date some are considered to have a limited distribution, while others are worldwide dispersed. Among those are Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.s.) and Borrelia bissettii which are distributed both in North America and in Europe. While B. burgdorferi s.s. is recognized as a cause of Lyme borreliosis worldwide, involvement of B. bissettii in human Lyme disease was not so definite yet.

Findings

Multilocus sequence typing of spirochete isolates originating from residents of Georgia and Florida, USA, revealed the presence of two Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto strains highly similar to those from endemic Lyme borreliosis regions of the northeastern United States, and

SUBMITTER: Golovchenko M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4743114 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature