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122 results for “Borrelia”

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dryad36/100

Predicting spatio-temporal population patterns of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen

The causative bacterium of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, expanded from an undetected human pathogen into the etiologic agent of the most common vector-borne disease in the United States over the last several decades. Systematic field collections of the tick vector reveal increases in the geographic range and population size of B. burgdorferi that coincided with increases in human Lyme disease incidence across New York State. Here we investigate the impact of environmental features on the population dynamics of B. burgdorferi. Analytical models developed using field collections of nearly 19,000 nymphal Ixodes scapularis and spatially- and temporally-explicit environmental features accurately explained the variation of B. burgdorferi population sizes across space and time. Importantly, the model identified environmental features that can be used to predict the biogeographical patterns of B. burgdorferi-infected ticks into future years and in previously unsampled areas. Forecasting the distribution and abundance of a pathogen at fine geographic scales offers a powerful strategy to mitigate a serious public health threat.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

dryad36/100

Borrelia burgdorferi strain and host sex influence pathogen prevalence and abundance in the tissues of a laboratory rodent host

Experimental infections with different pathogen strains give insight into pathogen life history traits. The purpose of our study was to compare variation in tissue infection prevalence and spirochete abundance among strains of B. burgdorferi in a rodent host (Mus musculus, C3H/HeJ). Male and female mice were experimentally infected via tick bite with one of 12 strains. Ear tissue biopsies were taken at days 29, 59, and 89 post-infection (PI), and 7 tissues were collected at necropsy. The presence and abundance of spirochetes in the mouse tissues were measured by qPCR. To determine the frequencies of our strains in nature, their MLSTs were matched to published datasets. For the infected mice, 56.6% of the tissues were infected with B. burgdorferi. The mean spirochete load in the mouse necropsy tissues varied 4.8-fold between the strains with the lowest and highest values. The mean spirochete load in the ear tissue biopsies decreased rapidly over time for some strains. The percentage of infected tissues in male mice (65.4%) was significantly higher compared to female mice (50.5%). The mean spirochete load in the 7 tissues was 1.5x higher in male mice compared to female mice; this male bias was 15.3x higher in the ventral skin. Across the 11 strains, the mean spirochete loads in the infected mouse tissues were positively correlated with the strain-specific frequencies in their tick vector populations. Our study suggests that laboratory-based estimates of pathogen abundance in host tissues can predict the strain composition of this important tick-borne pathogen in nature.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

zenodo36/100

Fig. 1 in Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Borrelia miyamotoi in ixodid ticks in the Far East of Russia

Fig. 1. Map of the tick collection places in the Far East of Russia.

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2019View details →

dryad36/100

Borrelia infection in bank voles Myodes glareolus is associated with specific DQB haplotypes which affect allelic divergence within individuals

The high polymorphism of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes is generally considered to be a result of pathogen-mediated balancing selection. Such selection may operate in the form of heterozygote advantage, and/or through specific MHC allele–pathogen interactions. Specific MHC allele–pathogen interactions may promote polymorphism via negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS), or selection that varies in time and/or space because of variability in the composition of the pathogen community (fluctuating selection; FS). In addition, divergent allele advantage (DAA) may act on top of these forms of balancing selection, explaining the high sequence divergence between MHC alleles. DAA has primarily been thought of as an extension of heterozygote advantage. However, DAA could also work in concert with NFDS though this is yet to be tested explicitly. To evaluate the importance of DAA in pathogen-mediated balancing selection, we surveyed allelic polymorphism of MHC class II DQB genes in wild bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and tested for associations between DQB haplotypes and infection by Borrelia afzelii, a tick-transmitted bacterium causing Lyme disease in humans. We found two significant associations between DQB haplotypes and infection status: one haplotype was associated with lower risk of infection (resistance), while another was associated with higher risk of infection (susceptibility). Interestingly, allelic divergence within individuals was higher for voles with the resistance haplotype compared to other voles. In contrast, allelic divergence was lower for voles with the susceptibility haplotype than other voles. The pattern of higher allelic divergence in individuals with the resistance haplotype is consistent with NFDS favouring divergent alleles in a natural population, hence selection where DAA works in concert with NFDS.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi and diversity of its outer surface protein C (ospC) alleles in blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in Delaware

Characterizing the diversity of genes associated with virulence and transmission of a pathogen across the pathogen's distribution can inform our understanding of host infection risk. Borrelia burgdorferi is a vector-borne bacterium that causes Lyme disease in humans and is common in the United States. The outer surface protein C (ospC) gene of B. burgdorferi exhibits substantial genetic variation across the pathogen's distribution and plays a critical role in virulence and transmission in vertebrate hosts. In fact, B. burgdorferi infections that disseminate across host tissues in humans are associated with only a subset of ospC alleles. Delaware has a high incidence of Lyme disease, but the diversity of ospC in B. burgdorferi in the state has not been evaluated. We used PCR to amplify ospC in B. burgdorferi-infected blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in sites statewide and used short-read sequencing to identify ospC alleles. B. burgdorferi prevalence in blacklegged ticks varied across sites, but not significantly so. We identified 15 previously characterized ospC alleles accounting for nearly all of the expected diversity of alleles across the sites as estimated using the Chao1 index. Nearly 40% of sequenced infections (23/58) had more than one ospC allele present suggesting mixed strain infections and the relative frequencies of alleles in single infections were positively correlated with their relative frequencies in mixed infections. Turnover of ospC alleles was positively related to distance between sites with closer sites having more similar allele compositions than more distant sites. This suggests a degree of B. burgdorferi dispersal limitation or habitat specialization. OspC alleles known to cause disseminated infections in humans were found at the highest frequencies across sites, corresponding to Delaware's high incidence of Lyme disease.

opencc-zeroJan 2023View details →

dryad36/100

Variation among strains of Borrelia burgdorferi in host tissue abundance and lifetime transmission determine the population strain structure in nature

Pathogen life history theory assumes a positive relationship between pathogen load in host tissues and pathogen transmission. Empirical evidence for this relationship is surprisingly rare due to the difficulty of measuring transmission for many pathogens. The comparative method, where a common host is experimentally infected with a set of pathogen strains, is a powerful approach for investigating the relationships between pathogen load and transmission. The validity of such experimental estimates of strain-specific transmission is greatly enhanced if they can predict the pathogen population strain structure in nature. Borrelia burgdorferi is a multi-strain, tick-borne spirochete that causes Lyme disease in North America. This study used 11 field-collected strains of B. burgdorferi, a rodent host (Mus musculus, C3H/HeJ) and its tick vector (Ixodes scapularis) to determine the relationship between pathogen load in host tissues and lifetime host-to-tick transmission (HTT). Mice were experimentally infected via tick bite with 1 of 11 strains. Lifetime HTT was measured by infesting mice with I. scapularis larval ticks on 3 separate occasions. The prevalence and abundance of the strains in the mouse tissues and the ticks were determined by qPCR. We used published databases to obtain estimates of the frequencies of these strains in wild I. scapularis populations. Spirochete loads in ticks and lifetime HTT varied significantly among the 11 strains of B. burgdorferi. Strains with higher spirochete loads in the host tissues were more likely to infect feeding larvae, which molted into nymphs with a higher probability of B. burgdorferi infection (i.e., higher HTT). Our laboratory-based estimates of lifetime HTT were predictive of the frequencies of these strains in wild I. scapularis populations. For B. burgdorferi, the strains that establish high abundance in host tissues and that have high lifetime transmission are the strains that are most common in nature.

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

ClinicalTrials.gov36/100

Clinicaly Manifested Reinfections with Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT06835075. IPD Sharing: NO. Countries: 1. Publications: 0.

closedIPD-NOFeb 2026View details →

dryad36/100