RESEARCH ARTICLE
Borrelia Genotyping in Lyme Disease
Eva Ružić-Sabljić*, Tjaša Cerar
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 10
Issue: Suppl 1: M2
First Page: 6
Last Page: 14
Publisher ID: TODJ-10-6
DOI: 10.2174/1874372201610010006
Article History:
Received Date: 22/10/2015Revision Received Date: 16/12/2015
Acceptance Date: 16/12/2015
Electronic publication date: 28/03/2016
Collection year: 2016
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis, multisystem disorder characterized by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Different borrelia species can lead to distinct clinical presentations, but some species were associated with defined clinical manifestation like Borrelia afzelii with skin manifestations, Borrelia garinii with central nervous system disorders and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto with Lyme arthritis. Ixodes ticks represent the main vectors of B. burgdorferi sensu lato; wild animals, lizards and birds are the natural reservoir of borrelia. Genotyping of borrelia strains is of great importance for epidemiological, clinical, and evolutionary studies. Numerous methods are available for the genotyping of B. burgdorferi sensu lato based either on whole genome or PCR based typing. Typing methods differ in their approach and target, many of them were implemented more or less successfully for diagnostic purposes.