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Treponematosis and Lyme borreliosis connections: Explanation for Tchefuncte disease syndromes?
Author(s) -
Lewis Barbara
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330930406
Subject(s) - lyme disease , borrelia burgdorferi , treponema , syphilis , borrelia , immunology , population , spirochaetaceae , medicine , disease , erythema migrans , biology , virology , pathology , antibody , lyme borreliosis , environmental health , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)
A convergence of evidence from macroscopic, radiographic and histologic examination indicates that treponemal infection was present in the 16ST1 Tchefuncte Indian burial population, dated 500 B.C. to 300 A.D. Pattern and nature of lesions suggests that chronic infection induced by variants of the spirochete Treponema pallidum , causing endemic syphilis and/or yaws, resulted in third‐stage osseous response. It is suggested that Tchefuncte Indians acquired partial immunity to treponemal infection by exposure to a variant of the related spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi , the causative agent of Lyme disease. Partial immunity would help explain the relatively mild expression of the treponemal disease process in the 16ST1 skeletal population and the apparent absence of venereal syphilis. Presence of the Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete might be linked to a single incidence of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.