Questionnaire Surveys of Cases of Tick Bite and Lyme Borreliosis in Hunters in Hokkaido with Reference to Detection of Anti-Borrelia burgdorferi Antibody.

High prevalence of sIgE to Galactose‐α‐1,3‐galactose in rural pre‐Alps area: a cross‐sectional study

“…The other outdoor activities showed a tendency of association, but did not reach statistical significance. Kubo and co‐workers in Japan have previously shown that seropositivity for Borrelia burgdorferi induced by ticks was higher among hunters than in a control population .…”

“…Specific IgE towards a-Gal epitope was measured using a test containing bovine thyroglobulin bearing about 16 a-Gal moieties, which is available from Thermo Fisher Scientific for research use only. Previous studies have shown a high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of anti-a-Gal sIgE for this test, as sensitization to protein epitopes of bovine thyroglobulin is extremely rare (1,8).…”

Evaluation of genetic divergence of borrelial isolates from Lyme disease patients in Hokkaido, Japan, by rRNA gene probes

“…Thereafter, we isolated spirochetes from wild rodents and ixodid ticks in the northern parts of Japan (21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)31). Epidemiological studies revealed the high prevalence of spirochetal infections in L persulcatus and L ovatus in the areas of high endemicity for Lyme disease (22,31), and questionnaire surveys indicated that people who are outdoors are frequently bitten by ticks (19,23). Both I. persulcatus and L ovatus are the most common tick species in Hokkaido.…”

Comparative Studies on Borrelia afzelii Isolated from a Patient of Lyme Disease, Ixodes persulcatus Ticks, and Apodemus speciosus Rodents in Japan

“…In Japan, B. garinii, B. afzelii, and unknown species are highly prevalent in unfed adult ticks of I. persulcatus (4, 14, M. Nakao, unpublished data). Nevertheless, the cases of Lyme disease are rarely documented in spite of the abundanceofhuman tick bites (18). In general, the tick bite caused only local symptoms of tiny skin rash or erythema chronicum migrans.…”

“…In general, the tick bite caused only local symptoms of tiny skin rash or erythema chronicum migrans. The severe manifestations such as arthritis and cardiac and neurologic abnormalities are uncommon (8,18). These epidemiologic status suggest that most Borrelia species distributed in Japan are lowvirulent for humans.…”