Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in British Columbia, Canada: First Isolation of Borrelia hermsii

Abstract

The spirochete that causes tick-borne relapsing fever,Borrelia hermsii, was isolated in pure culture during 1995 and 1996 from three acutely ill human patients infected in southern British Columbia, Canada. The geographic area of exposure is a known focus of this disease dating back to 1930 when the first case was recognized in a human. Analyses of plasmid DNA, protein profiles, and reactivity with a species-specific monoclonal antibody identified the new isolates of spirochetes as B. hermsii, all of which were most similar to an isolate of this spirochete from northern California described previously. These are the first reported isolates of B. hermsii from Canada.

Transstadial Transmission of Borrelia turcica in Hyalomma aegyptium Ticks

“…complex, all transmitted through the bite of hard ticks of genus Ixodes [ 6 , 7 ]. RF Borrelia are transmitted by soft ticks, hard ticks or lice and have been reported primarily in northern US [ 8 ], Canada [ 9 ], Africa [ 10 , 11 ] and Eurasia [ 12 – 16 ]. REP Borrelia isolates were described so far only from hard ticks or blood collected from tortoises.…”

Tick Talk: Unusually Severe Case of Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome—Case Report and Review of the Literature

“…Tick-borne relapsing fever is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected soft ticks from rodents and other animals. 2 Tick-borne relapsing fever is found throughout most of the world, although endemic areas include Colorado, California, the Pacific Northwest, southern British Columbia, [3][4][5][6][7][8] plateau regions of Central and South America, central Asia, Mediterranean countries, and most of Africa. An outbreak of TBRF caused by B hermsii, and near Browne's Mountain in Spokane, WA, was considered the largest outbreak of TBRF reported in the western hemisphere.…”

“…Her platelets were 19 000/ Corresponding author: Mary Schaefer Badger, DO, FACOI, Northside Internal Medicine, N 6120 Mayfair, Spokane, WA 99208 (e-mail: badgermary@mac.com). mm 3 , her white count 4500/mm 3 , and her hemoglobin 12.6 g•dL Ϫ1 . At that time her symptoms included a headache without fever or rash.…”

“…Her bone marrow was consistent with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. She was treated with prednisone and her platelet count rose to her preillness baseline of 245 000/mm 3 . At her follow-up hematology visit 2 weeks later, her temperature was 39ЊC, she had intense thirst and mild confusion and was unable to ambulate as a result of muscle pain, and she had pancytopenia (white count 1300/mm 3 , hemoglobin 8.9 g•dL Ϫ1 , and a platelet count of 11 000/mm 3 ).…”

Development and optimization of an in vitro cultivation protocol allows for isolation of Borrelia miyamotoi from patients with hard tick-borne relapsing fever

“…In vitro cultivation of B. miyamotoi has been described using Modified KellyePettenkorfer medium with the addition of either fetal calf or human serum [11,12]. Isolation of TBRF Borrelia from human blood has not been extensively studied, but relies on inoculation of infected blood in mice [13,14]. To date, no clinical B. miyamotoi strains have been isolated and cultivated in vitro.…”