Multispacer Sequence Typing Relapsing Fever Borreliae in Africa.
In: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Jg. 6 (2012-06-05), Heft 6, S. 1-6
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Zugriff:
Background: In Africa, relapsing fevers are neglected arthropod-borne infections caused by closely related Borrelia species. They cause mild to deadly undifferentiated fever particularly severe in pregnant women. Lack of a tool to genotype these Borrelia organisms limits knowledge regarding their reservoirs and their epidemiology. Methodology/Principal Findings: Genome sequence analysis of Borrelia crocidurae, Borrelia duttonii and Borrelia recurrentis yielded 5 intergenic spacers scattered between 10 chromosomal genes that were incorporated into a multispacer sequence typing (MST) approach. Sequencing these spacers directly from human blood specimens previously found to be infected by B. recurrentis (30 specimens), B. duttonii (17 specimens) and B. crocidurae (13 specimens) resolved these 60 strains and the 3 type strains into 13 species-specific spacer types in the presence of negative controls. B. crocidurae comprised of 8 spacer types, B. duttonii of 3 spacer types and B. recurrentis of 2 spacer types. Conclusions/Significance: Phylogenetic analyses of MST data suggested that B. duttonii, B. crocidurae and B. recurrentis are variants of a unique ancestral Borrelia species. MST proved to be a suitable approach for identifying and genotyping relapsing fever borreliae in Africa. It could be applied to both vectors and clinical specimens. Author Summary: In Africa, relapsing fevers are caused by four cultured species: Borrelia crocidurae, Borrelia duttonii, Borrelia hispanica and Borrelia recurrentis. These borreliae are transmitted by the bite of Ornithodoros soft ticks except for B. recurrentis which is transmitted by louse Pediculus humanus. They cause potentially undifferentiated fever infection and co-infection with malaria could also occur. The exact prevalence of each Borrelia is unknown and overlaps between B. duttonii and B. crocidurae have been reported. The lack of tools for genotyping these borreliae limits knowledge concerning their epidemiology. We developed multispacer sequence typing (MST) and applied it to blood specimens infected by B. recurrentis (30 specimens), B. duttonii (18 specimens) and B. crocidurae (13 specimens), delineating these 60 strains and the 3 type strains into 13 species-specific spacer types. B. crocidurae strains were classified into 8 spacer types, B. duttonii into 3 spacer types and B. recurrentis into 2 spacer types. These findings provide the proof-of-concept that that MST is a reliable tool for identification and genotyping relapsing fever borreliae in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Multispacer Sequence Typing Relapsing Fever Borreliae in Africa.
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Haitham, Elbir ; Gimenez, Gregory ; Sokhna, Cheikh ; Bilcha, Kassahun Desalegn ; Ali, Jemal ; Barker, Stephen C. ; Cutler, Sally J. ; Raoult, Didier ; Drancourt, Michel |
Zeitschrift: | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Jg. 6 (2012-06-05), Heft 6, S. 1-6 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2012 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
ISSN: | 1935-2727 (print) |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pntd.0001652 |
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