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Comparative Studies on Borrelia afzelii Isolated from a Patient of Lyme Disease, Ixodes persulcatus Ticks, and Apodemus speciosus Rodents in Japan
Author(s) -
Nakao Minoru,
Miyamoto Kenji,
Fukunaga Masahito,
Hashimoto Yoshio,
Takahashi Hidetoshi
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1994.tb01801.x
Subject(s) - ixodes persulcatus , borrelia afzelii , biology , lyme disease , virology , borrelia burgdorferi , microbiology and biotechnology , ixodes scapularis , spirochaetaceae , ixodes , borrelia , tick , ixodidae , genetics , antibody
Abstract The genospecies Borrelia afzelii was isolated from a patient of Lyme disease in Hokkaido, Japan, for the first time, by culturing the minced erythema lesion in BSK II medium. Two analytical methods, rRNA gene restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the specific primer set to amplify the 16S rRNA gene, revealed that this clinical isolate belongs to the group of B. afzelii. In our culture collection of spirochetes, part of the isolates from Ixodes persulcatus ticks, and from Apodemus speciosus rodents, were also classified as B. afzelii. These results strongly suggest that the agent pathogenic to humans is maintained in “rodent‐tick” transmission cycle.