Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Imported from West Africa: Diagnosis by Quantitative Buffy Coat Analysis and In Vitro Culture of Borrelia crocidurae

AUTOR(ES)

van Dam, Alje P.

FONTE

American Society for Microbiology

RESUMO

West African tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is difficult to diagnose due to the low number of spirochetes in the bloodstream of patients. Previously, the causative microorganism, Borrelia crocidurae, had never been cultured in vitro. TBRF was rapidly diagnosed for two patients returning from western Africa with fever of unknown origin by quantitative buffy coat (QBC) analysis. Diagnosis was confirmed by intraperitoneal inoculation of blood specimens from patients into laboratory mice. In vitro experiments showed that QBC analysis may be as much as 100-fold more sensitive than thick smear. Spirochetes were also cultured from blood samples from both patients in modified Kelly’s medium and were identified as B. crocidurae by partial sequencing of the PCR-amplified rrs gene.

Documentos Relacionados

• Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in British Columbia, Canada: First Isolation of Borrelia hermsii
• Isolation and Characterization of Borrelia hermsii Associated with Two Foci of Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in California
• Identification of the tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii by using a species-specific monoclonal antibody.
• Equine Abortion Associated with the Borrelia parkeri-B. turicatae Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Spirochete Group
• Late relapse of tick-borne relapsing fever following treatment with doxycycline.