The Health Burden of A Recently Discovered Borrelia Spirochete

描述（由申请人提供）：我们发现了一种新的疏螺旋体螺旋体，该螺旋体在实验室小鼠中引起持续感染，并广泛分布于美国各地莱姆病的硬蜱蜱媒介的田间种群中。初步遗传和抗原分析表明，这种生物体是一个密切相关的回归热螺旋体组的成员，最初在日本被描述为Borrelia miyamotoi。最近的调查提供了令人信服的证据表明，这种螺旋体在俄罗斯引起人类疾病，其中B。感染miyamotoi的硬蜱与美国东北部的硬蜱相似。其中一些患者经历了长期的复发性疾病。缺乏关于这种新型螺旋体的遗传和抗原特征的基本信息，并且尚未开发用于临床使用的诊断工具。虽然只有少数人感染了B。虽然目前已确认存在miyamotoi，但我们怀疑在其广泛的地理分布范围内的其他地方可能存在病例，特别是在莱姆病高度流行的美国东北部。因此，我们建议研究B之间的抗原关系。miyamotoi和其他疏螺旋体物种，以开发改进的诊断方法，并比较B的频率和临床表现。宫本氏疏螺旋体感染与东北部伯氏疏螺旋体感染。由于人类高度暴露于可能感染B的蜱虫叮咬，因此迫切需要此类信息。在莱姆病流行地区，由于感染不能用诊断莱姆病的相同实验室程序检测到，因为B。宫本氏菌属于回归热螺旋体群，并引起具有回归热症状的持续性疾病，一些归因于莱姆病并被称为“慢性莱姆病”的长期发作可能是由于B。宫本感染。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We have found a new Borrelia spirochete that causes persistent infection in laboratory mice and is widely distributed in field populations of Ixodes tick vectors of Lyme disease throughout the United States. Preliminary genetic and antigen analysis indicates that this organism is a member of a closely related group of relapsing fever spirochetes and was originally described as Borrelia miyamotoi in Japan. Recent investigations provide convincing evidence that this spirochete causes human disease in Russia where the percentages of B. miyamotoi-infected Ixodes ticks are similar to those in the northeastern United States. Some of these patients experienced prolonged, relapsing illness. Basic information is lacking regarding genetic and antigenic characteristics of this novel spirochete and diagnostic tools are not yet developed for clinical use. Although only a few human cases of infection with B. miyamotoi are currently recognized, we suspect that cases may exist elsewhere within its broad geographic distribution and particularly in the northeastern United States where Lyme disease is hyperendemic. Accordingly, we propose to investigate the antigenic relationship between B. miyamotoi and other Borrelia species in order to develop improved diagnostic methods and to compare the frequency and clinical manifestations of B. miyamotoi infection with those of Borrelia burgdorferi in the Northeast. Such information is urgently needed because of the high level of human exposure to bites from ticks potentially infected with B. miyamotoi in Lyme endemic regions and because infection cannot be detected with the same laboratory procedures used to diagnose Lyme disease. Because B. miyamotoi belongs to the relapsing fever group of spirochetes and causes persistent illness with relapsing fever symptoms, it is possible that some prolonged episodes of illness attributed to Lyme disease and designated as "chronic Lyme disease" are due to B. miyamotoi infection.