Characterization of a Borrelia miyamotoi membrane antigen (BmaA) for serodiagnosis of Borrelia miyamotoi disease.

Borrelia miyamotoi is a tick-borne pathogen that causes Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD), an emerging infectious disease of increasing public health significance. B. miyamotoi is transmitted by the same tick vector (Ixodes spp.) as B. burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), the causative agent of Lyme disease, therefore laboratory assays to differentiate BMD from Lyme disease are needed to avoid misdiagnoses and for disease confirmation. We previously performed a global immunoproteomic analysis of the murine host antibody response against B. miyamotoi infection to discover antigens that could serologically distinguish the two infections. An initial assessment identified a putative lipoprotein antigen, here termed BmaA, as a promising candidate to augment current research-based serological assays. In this study, we show that BmaA is an outer surface-associated protein by its susceptibility to protease digestion. Synthesis of BmaA in culture was independent of temperature at either 23 °C or 34 °C. The BmaA gene is present in two identical loci harbored on separate plasmids in North American strains LB-2001 and CT13-2396. bmaA-like sequences are present in other B. miyamotoi strains and relapsing fever borrelia as multicopy genes and as paralogous or orthologous gene families. IgM and IgG antibodies in pooled serum from BMD patients reacted with native BmaA fractionated by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified by mass spectrometry. IgG against recombinant BmaA was detected in 4 of 5 BMD patient serum samples as compared with 1 of 23 serum samples collected from patients with various stages of Lyme disease. Human anti-B. turicatae serum did not seroreact with recombinant BmaA suggesting a role as a species-specific diagnostic antigen. These results demonstrated that BmaA elicits a human host antibody response during B. miyamotoi infection but not in a tested group of B. burgdorferi-infected Lyme disease patients, thereby providing a potentially useful addition for developing BMD serodiagnostic tests.

Cutaneous pseudolymphoma-A review on the spectrum and a proposal for a new classification.

Cutaneous pseudolymphomas (PSLs) belong to a group of lymphocytic infiltrates that histopathologically and/or clinically simulate lymphomas. Different causative agents (e.g., Borrelia sp., injected substances, tattoo, arthropod bite) have been described, but in many cases no cause can be identified, hence the term idiopathic PSL. Clinicopathological correlation is important to make the diagnosis. Four main groups of cutaneous PSL can be distinguished based on histopathologic and/or clinical presentation: (a) nodular PSL; (b) pseudo-mycosis fungoides (pseudo-MF) and simulators of other CTCLs; (c) other PSL (representing distinct clinical entities); and (d) intravascular PSL. This article gives an overview of the histopathologic and clinical characteristics of cutaneous PSLs and proposes a new classification.

[Borreliosis as the cause of disability pensions in Norway]. / Borreliose som årsak til uførepensjon i Norge.

BACKGROUND: Borreliosis is a bacterial infection transferred by tick-bites. Neuroborreliosis is the most frequent disseminated form of the disorder in Norway. Registers exist in Norway on all reported communicable diseases (The Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases [MSIS]) and disability pension diagnoses (The Norwegian Directorate of Labour and Welfare). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Geographic distributions of borreliosis and changes over time are presented. Disability pensions (coded by International Classification of Diseases [ICD]) in the period 1998-2005, in which borreliosis was used as the primary or secondary diagnosis (ICD-10), were compared with MSIS-data for borreliosis on municipal and county levels. RESULTS: Borreliosis was the cause of disability pensions in 55 cases. The Vestfold and Agder counties had the highest number of cases. Larvik municipality had 9 cases, Arendal had four and Kristiansand had nine cases. The annual rates of new disability pensions caused by borreliosis were low but increasing in the period 1998-2005. The disability pension rates tended to reflect changes in the number of MSIS-reported cases, with pensions changing 1-2 years after MSIS-changes. Most MSIS-reported cases are in the Agder and Telemark counties. INTERPRETATION: Disability pension are rarely caused by borreliosis. The annual incidence of disability pensions seems to reflect the number of MSIS-reported cases of borreliosis. The Agder and Vestfold counties have the highest incidence.

[Diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis in the Ul'ianovsk region]. / Diagnostika, lechenie i profilaktika iksodovykh kleshchevykh borreliozov v Ul'ianovskoi oblasti.

The level of morbidity in Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis, the analysis of the quality of diagnostics and the results of treatment are presented. The necessity of taking prophylactic measures is substantiated.

[Borrelia infections from a dermatological viewpoint]. / Borrelieninfektion aus dermatologischer Sicht.

Erythema migrans (EM), Borrelia lymphocytoma (BL) and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) are the established dermatological manifestations of borrelia infection, a complex multiorganic disease. Analogous to syphilis Borrelia infection can be classified by three stages, at which stage I (localized infection) and II (disseminated infection) are manifestations of early infection and stage III (persistent infection) a symptom of late infection. At all stages skin manifestations can be present, the above mentioned as stage-marker as well as other non-specific polymorphous skin lesions which sometimes appear at stage II. Because of its frequent (60-80%) occurrence in all borrelia infections EM has a pathognomonic importance for borrelia infection. In diagnosis serology is currently the only practical laboratory aid. False negative and false positive results must be considered. Treatment of choice is ceftriaxone, penicillin G (or amoxycillin) or tetracycline. Prophylactic antibiotic therapy for tick bites is not recommended. Congenital borrelia infections seem to be unusual, but it is likely that they can occur and cause different adverse fetal outcome or abortion.

[Predominant involvement of the central nervous system in a secondary form of borreliosis]. / Atteinte prédominante du système nerveux central au cours d'une forme secondaire de borreliose.

The clinical features of a patient with a secondary stage of Borrelia Burgdorferi infection are reported. Severe symptoms and signs of central nervous involvement were present.

Borrelia-induced meningoradiculitis--two different forms of the disease.

The pattern of CSF cytological findings in the acute stage and after 10 days of antibiotic and steroid treatment was examined in 14 patients with meningoradiculitis due to an arthropode-transmitted infection with Borrelia duttoni (burgdorferi). At the acute onset of neurological symptoms, 12 patients revealed lymphocytic pleocytosis (cell count 50-500 X 10(6) cells/l) with numerous plasma cells (5-12% of the total cell count) and neutrophilic granulocytes (0.2-3.4%). 10-14 days after the onset of penicillin infusion and steroid treatment, cell count was reduced by at least 50% in 8 patients. Plasma cells then varied between 2 and 8%, whereas the neutrophilic granulocytes had disappeared. Two patients with slowly progressive neurological symptoms had a normal cell count, and inflammatory changes in CSF cytology were not observed.