The Propensity of Different Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Stricto Genotypes to Cause Disseminated Infections in Humans

Overview

Journal Am J Trop Med Hyg

Specialty Tropical Medicine

Date 2008 May 7

PMID 18458317

Citations 80

Authors

Daniel E Dykhuizen

Dustin Brisson

Sabina Sandigursky

Gary P Wormser

John Nowakowski

Robert B Nadelman

Ira Schwartz

Affiliations

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Abstract

Lineages of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, can be characterized by distinct alleles at the outer surface protein C (ospC) locus. The lineages marked by ospC genotypes have been shown to be differentially invasive in different species of mammals, including humans; genotypes A, B, I, and K effectively disseminate to human blood and cerebrospinal fluid. In this report, we extend the sample of genotypes isolated from human blood to include genotypes N, H, C, M, and D, and rank each by their probability of disseminating from ticks to the blood of humans. Our results demonstrate that only some genotypes of B. burgdorferi present in ticks have a high propensity to disseminate in humans.

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