Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA (B garinii or B afzelii) in morphea and lichen sclerosus et atrophicus tissues of German and Japanese but not of US patients

Frequency of Borrelia in Morphea Lesion by Polymerase Chain Reaction in Northeast of Iran

“…Once more the results have been contradictory. Studies reporting a positive association between Borrelia infection and morphea have shown evidence of the organism in 26 - 100% of cases ( 8 , 10 , 26 , 29 , 30 ), whereas in further 10 reports including our current one, no positive case has been identified ( 5 , 7 , 9 , 11 - 13 , 18 , 25 ). Isolated studies have reported a positive association in countries such as Italy, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, Turkey, and Japan, and negative association in Spain, Finland, Holland, the USA, some parts of Germany and France ( 2 , 3 , 10 , 18 , 25 - 27 , 29 , 30 ).…”

“…Based on these procedures, there is a high probability that we would have been able to detect Borrelia DNA, had it been present. Fujiwara and coworkers suggested that morphea might be caused by certain subspecies of B. burgdorferi which are endemic, exclusively in certain geographical areas ( 10 ). Since the literature suggests that there is a strong geographical relation between Borrelia infection and morphea, the results of the present study, which was the first study concerning the association between infection with Borrelia spp.…”

Extravascular Necrotizing Granuloma Induced by Mineral Wool in Circumscribed Scleroderma Lesions

“…Moreover, B. afzelii had been isolated from a sclerodermatous skin lesion, a condition which has been described only in Europe [28]. Only B. garinii and B. afzelii have been associated with cScl, two genospecies which have not been isolated in the USA [29]. (2) The patient showed a hitherto not described reaction pattern after contact with mineral wool, the main component of which is silicon.…”

Post-Stripping Sclerodermiform Dermatitis

“…The Koebner phenomenon has also been reported [11][12][13] for morphea, but its occurrence is exceptional, and the long delay (6 years) between the stripping and the appearance of the skin lesions suggests that they are unlikely to be due solely to the Koebner phenomenon. Although controversial, morphea and LSA have in some patients been related to European genotypes of Borrelia species, 14 and although appropriate antibiotic therapy in the context of serologic tests positive for Borrelia IgG did not modify the cutaneous lesions in patient 1, the contribution of this pathogen to the lesional process cannot be excluded.…”