We clearly demonstrate here the diagnostic potential of these seromarkers. Our findings will facilitate future epidemiological and clinical studies on BMD and lead to the development of a serologic test to be used in clinical practice.
We investigated whether Borrelia miyamotoi disease can be detected in its early stage by using PCR for borrelial 16S rRNA, which molecule (DNA or RNA) is the best choice for this test, and whether spirochetes are present in blood during the acute phase of B. miyamotoi disease. A total of 473 patients with a suspected tickborne infection in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009, 2010, and 2015 were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were analyzed by using quantitative PCR or ELISA, and a diagnosis of borreliosis was confirmed for 310 patients. For patients with erythema migrans, 5 (3%) of 167 were positive for B. miyamotoi by PCR; for patients without erythema migrans, 65 (45%) of 143 were positive for B. miyamotoi by PCR. The median concentration for RNA was 3.8 times that for DNA. Median time for detection of B. miyamotoi in blood was 4 days.
Direct culture from K-EDTA, trisodium citrate and lithium heparin plasma containing B. miyamotoi is hampered due to anticoagulants. Using a simple centrifugation protocol we were able to circumvent this detrimental effect, allowing for the first clinical isolation of B. miyamotoi. This will be of value for future research on the pathogenesis, genetics, diagnosis, therapy and epidemiology of HTBRF and other tick-borne relapsing fevers.
Here, we report the whole-genome sequence of six clinical Borrelia miyamotoi isolates from the Russian Federation. Using two independent next-generation sequencing platforms, we determined the complete sequence of the chromosome and several plasmids. All strains have an Asian genotype with 99.8% chromosome nucleotide similarity with B. miyamotoi strain FR64b.
is an emerging relapsing fever (RF) species that is reported to cause human disease in regions in which Lyme borreliosis is endemic. We recently showed that tick isolates are resistant to amoxicillin ; however, clinical isolates have not been studied. Therefore, our aim was to show the antimicrobial susceptibility of recently obtained clinical isolates of A dilution series of various antibiotics was made in modified Kelly-Pettenkofer medium with 10% fetal calf serum. The susceptibilities of different clinical, tick, RF , and isolates were tested by measuring MICs through colorimetric changes and by counting motile spirochetes by dark-field microscopy after 72 h of incubation. The ceftriaxone and azithromycin MIC ranges of the six clinical isolates tested were 0.03 to 0.06 mg/liter and 0.0016 to 0.0032 mg/liter, respectively. These values are similar to MICs for RF strains and tick isolates. All tested RF strains were susceptible to doxycycline (microscopic MIC range, 0.0625 to 0.25 mg/liter). In contrast to the MICs of the tested strains and in line with our previous findings, the amoxicillin MICs (range, 8 to 32 mg/liter) of all RF strains, including clinical isolates, were above the clinical breakpoint for resistance (≤4 mg/liter). Clinical isolates of are highly susceptible to doxycycline, azithromycin, and ceftriaxone Interestingly, as described previously for tick isolates, amoxicillin shows poor activity against clinical isolates.
SummaryInfection with many encephalitic viruses is associated with the induction of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6. In some situations, induction of high levels of this cytokine is associated with a protective response, but in others it can be linked to tissue damage and disease. In the studies reported here, levels of serum IL-6 and virus-specific antibodies were measured on admission to hospital and correlated with clinical outcomes. Only some patients demonstrated raised levels of serum IL-6, and there was no correlation between high levels of this cytokine and either gender or the severity of clinical disease. A statistically significant association between raised IL-6 and age was observed, with all individuals below the age of 26 showing normal levels of serum IL-6, regardless of clinical presentation. Furthermore, not all patients had detectable levels of virus-specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies, but an inverse and statistically significant correlation between raised IL-6 levels and IgG titre was observed. Consequently, serum levels of IL-6 cannot be used as a reliable indicator of disease outcome.
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