Xenodiagnosis to Detect Borrelia burgdorferi Infection: A First-in-Human Study

Abstract

Xenodiagnosis using Ixodes scapularis larvae was safe and well tolerated. Further studies are needed to determine the sensitivity of xenodiagnosis in patients with Lyme disease and the significance of a positive result. Clinical Trials Registration NCT01143558.

Borrelia miyamotoi: a widespread tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete

“…The fact that larvae can be infected with B. miyamotoi raises the question of whether larvae are able to transmit the pathogen to humans. Under optimal trial conditions, only 30-50% of larvae were found to feed on human test subjects [54], and only a small proportion of identified ticks feeding on humans were larvae [24,27,55]. Moreover, when humans do get bitten by B. miyamotoi infected larvae, it is currently unknown whether transmission can occur.…”

Is there a place for xenodiagnosis in the clinic?

“…We developed procedures for human xenodiagnosis using uninfected larval deer ticks and determined the safety of the protocol [1]. Xenodiagnosis was performed in 36 participants, and seven participants underwent more than one procedure.…”

“…Our recent study [1] demonstrated the safety and proof of concept for using xenodiagnosis, the feeding of a natural arthropod vector on a patient to detect evidence of infection, as a tool for probing the causes of post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). We review the history of xenodiagnosis, recapitulate some of the major features of the PTLDS study and discuss the possible utility of this classical biological assay in the clinical setting.…”

La maladie de Lyme au Canada : un regard sur les enfants

“…(17,18) Selon des données probantes récentes, l'infection persistante à B burgdorferi est rare après un traitement adéquat. (19) L'antibiothérapie prolongée ne soulage pas le SPML à long terme. (10,13,17) Comment retirer une tique…”