Isolation of Borrelia spirochetes from patients in Texas

Abstract

culturing the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi in 1985. This organism was subsequently isolated from blood, cerebrospinal fluid, joint fluid, skin, bone, and autopsy tissues from humans. Fluorescent-antibody tests with murine monoclonal antibodies confirmed that seven of these isolates were B. burgdorferi and that two others belonged to the genus Borrelia. Lyme disease, first recognized in 1975, is a tick-borne infection that can result in long-term rheumatologic or neurologic disorders. A spirochete isolated from Ixodes dammini in 1982 was later found to be the etiologic agent of the illness (6, 16). Since then, this bacterium, called Borrelia burgdorferi, has been detected in tissue specimens from patients who were diagnosed clinically as having Lyme disease (4, 5, 8, 9, 16). These specimens include blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), joint fluids, and skin tissues. At the Texas Department of Health, we began culturing for B. burgdorferi during the spring of 1985. Blood, CSF, joint fluids, bone scrapings, autopsy tissues, and skin tissues from patients whose physicians suspected Lyme disease were submitted to our laboratory. These specimens were placed in modified BSK II medium in an attempt to isolate B. burgdorferi (1). Our findings are reported here. MATERIALS AND METHODS Specimens were collected by physicians and shipped overnight to the Texas Department of Health Laboratory in Austin. Blood, CSF, and joint fluids were sent either on wet or dry ice; skin and autopsy tissues were shipped in approximately 1 ml of either brain heart infusion or thioglycolate medium; and bone scrapings (from the right wrist of the patient) were placed directly into BSK II medium by the physician.

Epidemiology and Clinical Manifestations of Lyme Borreliosis in Childhood

“…The isolation and culture of B. burgdorferi from the CSF of patients with meningoradiculoneuritis have been repeatedly described, but as a rule are only successful in only one out of every 10 patients (150,232,249,302).…”

DNA analysis of Borrelia burgdorferi NCH-1, the first northcentral U.S. human Lyme disease isolate

“…Although Lyme disease spirochetes have been isolated from blood (7,21,33), cerebrospinal fluid (22,34), synovial fluid (26), and biopsy specimens of skin lesions of erythema migrans and acrodermatitis chronicum atrophicans (2,8,23,33), the frequency of recovery of B. burgdorfen from Lyme disease patient specimens is low. To date, most human isolates in the United States have been recovered from patients in the northeast, where the disease is most prevalent.…”

Cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi from erythema migrans lesions and perilesional skin

“…Although skin biopsy specimens of the EM lesion are a better source of B. burgdorferi than the blood (5,13,15), CSF (10,15,18), and synovial fluid (16) are, a frequency of isolation of 5 to 43% (9, 18) from EM lesions is relatively low. We attempted to improve the efficiency of isolation from the skin by culturing skin biopsy specimens from clinically normal skin peripheral to the margin of the EM.…”

“…Also, the isolation of B. burgdorferi from patients is of particular importance for confirming presumptive cases of Lyme disease in nonendemic geographic areas. This spirochete has been isolated and successfully subcultured from the blood (5,13,15), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (10,15,18), skin lesions (1,9,15), and a single synovial fluid specimen (16). However, this generally has been a low-yield procedure.…”