Disease-causing strains of Borrelia in humans

[Valentijn]

It is claimed that only Borrelia Burgdorferi causes Lyme disease in North America, and only Borrelia Afzelii and Borrelia Garinii can cause Lyme disease in Europe.

But there are 36 known types of Borrelia, and some claim that 12 of them are known to cause disease in humans. Do these all cause the same disease, with the same symptoms? Where are they located?

If human studies are lacking in regions, animal studies might be more productive. There seems to be less of a reluctance to look for various types of Borrelia in dogs and cattle.

 

[Helen]

Thanks @Valentijn for raising good questions in your four posts this morning.

But there are 36 known types of Borrelia, and some claim that 12 of them are known to cause disease in humans. Do these all cause the same disease, with the same symptoms?

Interesting question and particularly the so far lacking answers. The American Lyme bacterias have been described to cause more of arthritis, particularly in the knees and the European Lyme bacterias have been described to cause more of Neuroborreliosis. I assume there are many symptoms that might overlap though. This was surely nothing new to you Val, but maybe for some others with a new interest in Lyme disease.

 

[duncan]

Good points, @Valentijn . One small clarification: The Lyme species usually identified with North America - Bb sensu stricto - is also found in Europe. It, along with garinii and afzelii, are part of Bb sensu lato, which covers additional species.

I think most pathogenic species elicit similar symptoms, despite what some researchers claim. Still, there appear to be exceptions; the one that comes to mind is ACA, which is found in late stage cases across Europe, but is reportedly uncommon in North America.

Many people think it odd that sensu stricto can be on both sides of the Atlantic, but not so for b garinii or afzelii. Not many are really looking to see if the latter two have infected people in North America, but one factor that seems to defy that conventional wisdom would be the ticks themselves. Ixodes scapularis are perfecting capable of acting as vectors for all three species.

 

[Vojta]

For example one borrelia prevalence study in ixodes ricinus (urban park in czech city) found B. afzelii, B. garinii, B. burgdorferi s.s., B. valaisiana, B. lusitaniae, and B. spielmanii. 15% of ticks had at least one of them. Most abundant was afzelii, valaisiana was second.

There is some speculation that B. garnii likes nervous tissue. There are also borrelia causing recurrent fevers (miyamotoi) in Europe.

 

[Valentijn]

@Vojta - Can you cite that source for us? Thank you!

 

[Valentijn]

Interesting question and particularly the so far lacking answers. The American Lyme bacterias have been described to cause more of arthritis, particularly in the knees and the European Lyme bacterias have been described to cause more of Neuroborreliosis. I assume there are many symptoms that might overlap though. This was surely nothing new to you Val, but maybe for some others with a new interest in Lyme disease.

Do you know if there is a research or other quality sources for those distinctions? In the case of Lyme especially, we need to get away from what is widely assumed to be true, and into the research and science instead.

 

[duncan]

Miyamotoi is also in the US. Lots of activity swirling about that. No testing mechanism yet, although supposedly companies like Imugen and IgeneX are close, using the GLPQ protein for identification. Peter Krause et al had a study in July 2014 in Emerg Infect Dis about miyamotoi's prevalence in the US.

 

[Helen]

I am pretty sure, but I read this with severe brain fog so I´ll have to look it up.

 

[Helen]

Do you know if there is a research or other quality sources for those distinctions?

Please see Conclusion. My bolding.

Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2011;32(4):491-5.
The genospecies B. burgdorferi s.l., isolated from ticks and from neurological patients with suspected Lyme borreliosis.
Bazovska S1, Durovska J, Derdakova M, Taragelova V, Pancak J, Zaborska M, Traubner P.
Author information

Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most disseminated tick-borne disease in the Northern hemisphere, and infestation with ticks is one of the essential factors influencing transmission of the disease to humans. This work intends to compare the occurrence of borrelia circulating in indigenous ticks and in patients suffering from neurological diseases.

MATERIALS & METHODS:
The total of 660 nymphs and 567 adult ticks from the Bratislava and Košice areas was examined over the years 2001-2004, and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 82 neurological patients suffering from suspected Lyme borreliosis infection was investigated in the 2007-2009 period, using the polymerase chain reaction method (PCR).

RESULTS:
PCR investigation proved presence of borrelia in 23.3% of the total 1227 ticks; of these, co-infection was found in 2.7% of all ticks. Borrelia garinii (9.9%) and B. valaisaina (9.2%) were the prevalent types. PCR investigation of the CSF samples of 32 patients with clinically diagnosed Lyme borreliosis showed the presence of B. burgdorferi s.l. in 17 cases. Positive results were found also in patients with unclear or different diagnoses. In cases where the genospecies could be identified, B. garinii was most frequently found (8x), followed with B. burgdorferi s.s. (4×) and B. afzelii (3×).

CONCLUSIONS:
The high infestation level of ticks with borrelia, mainly with B. garinii which is the most-often documented borrelia species identified in neurological patients, is indicative of a high risk of this contamination in Slovakia. B. garinii were found also in our neuroborreliosis patients, whereas their proof in the CSF of patients with suspected neuroborreliosis or with a different clinical diagnosis pointed upon their persistence after an infectious experience. However, knowledge of not only the genospecies but also of the genotypes capable of eliciting an invasive disorder would be necessary for better clarification of the relationship between borrelia and their peccant capacity. Identification of the invasive borrelia types circulating in nature, and clarification of the vector vs. human infection incidence relationship is of importance from the aspect of detailed knowledge of the epidemiology of this disease.

PMID:

21876490

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

[Helen]

Do you know if there is a research or other quality sources for those distinctions?

This small study is contradictory to my earlier statement, and I assume the result is valid. My bolding in the conclusion. These were not the studies I´d read before but they should be facts worth considering according to the topic.

Characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi Strains in Lyme Arthritis

1998, Vol. 30, No. 3 , Pages 265-268 (doi:10.1080/00365549850160918)

• Helmut Eiffert, Annette Karsten, Reiner Thomssen, Hans-Jürgen Christen

In the study presented, we investigated whether Lyme arthritis is associated with a particular Borrelia burgdorferi genospecies. Using the PCR technique, in 7/11 samples of synovial fluid of patients with Lyme arthritis a part of the ospA-gene was identified and the strains characterized by sequencing of the amplified DNA. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto was found in 3 patients, B. garinii in 3, and B. afzelii in 1 patient. In conclusion, Lyme arthritis is caused by all 3 human pathogenetic genospecies which are actually known. For clinical practice PCR proved to be a rather insensitive diagnostic method, but may confirm the diagnosis of Lyme arthritis in doubtful cases.

Read More: http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00365549850160918

 

[Vojta]

@Vojta - Can you cite that source for us? Thank you!

Human pathogenic borreliae in Ixodes ricinus ticks in natural and urban ecosystem (Czech Republic)
Abstract
A total of 1279 field-collected Ixodes ricinus ticks were screened for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) in a natural and an urban ecosystem of Ostrava city (Czech Republic) by using molecular methods. Minimal prevalence rate for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in ticks for the urban park Bělský les was found to be 13.8% (17.6% in males, 17.8% in females and 11.7% in nymphs), similarly for the natural site Proskovice was minimal prevalence 15% (12.5% in males, 20% in females and 14.9% in nymphs). Six proven human pathogenic genomic species have been recorded in the study: B. afzelii, B. garinii, B. burgdorferi s.s., B. valaisiana, B. lusitaniae, and B. spielmanii. Emerging B. spielmanii was detected for the first time in Ixodes ricinus ticks in the region. Our results highlight the need for surveillance of zoonotic tick-borne pathogens even in urban areas.

I found full version of the article:
http://www.edenext.eu/content/download/61293/549319/version/1/file/EDENext219.pdf