Lyme in the South

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I would copy this and take it to ANY doctor who tells you there has

been no evidence found of Bb in TN. He is not very up on his research.

The first sentence in this should resolve some of the discussion.

Other article abstracts are listed giving evidence for Lyme in TN.

J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Jul;39(7):2500-7. Related Articles, Links

Genetic heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the

southern United States based on restriction fragment length

polymorphism and sequence analysis.

Lin T, Oliver JH Jr, Gao L, Kollars TM Jr, KL.

Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology, Department of Biology,

Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460-8056, USA.

Fifty-six strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, isolated from

ticks and vertebrate animals in Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia,

Florida, and Texas, were identified and characterized by

PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of rrf

(5S)-rrl (23S) intergenic spacer amplicons. A total of 241 to 258 bp of

intergenic spacers between tandemly duplicated rrf (5S) and rrl (23S)

was amplified by PCR. MseI and DraI restriction fragment polymorphisms

were used to analyze these strains. PCR-RFLP analysis results indicated

that the strains represented at least three genospecies and 10

different restriction patterns. Most of the strains isolated from the

tick Ixodes dentatus in Missouri and Georgia belonged to the

genospecies Borrelia andersonii. Excluding the I. dentatus strains,

most southern strains, isolated from the ticks Ixodes scapularis and

Ixodes affinis, the cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus), and cotton mouse

(Peromyscus gossypinus) in Georgia and Florida, belonged to Borrelia

burgdorferi sensu stricto. Seven strains, isolated from Ixodes minor,

the wood rat (Neotoma floridana), the cotton rat, and the cotton mouse

in South Carolina and Florida, belonged to Borrelia bissettii. Two

strains, MI-8 from Florida and TXW-1 from Texas, exhibited MseI and

DraI restriction patterns different from those of previously reported

genospecies. Eight Missouri tick strains (MOK-3a group) had MseI

patterns similar to that of B. andersonii reference strain 21038 but

had a DraI restriction site in the spacer. Strain SCGT-8a had DraI

restriction patterns identical to that of strain 25015 (B. bissettii)

but differed from strain 25015 in its MseI restriction pattern. Strain

AI-1 had the same DraI pattern as other southern strains in the B.

bissettii genospecies but had a distinct MseI profile. The taxonomic

status of these atypical strains needs to be further evaluated. To

clarify the taxonomic positions of these atypical Borrelia strains, the

complete sequences of rrf-rrl intergenic spacers from 20 southeastern

and Missouri strains were determined. The evolutionary and phylogenetic

relationships of these strains were compared with those of the

described genospecies in the B. burgdorferi sensu lato species complex.

The 20 strains clustered into five separate lineages on the basis of

sequence analysis. MI-8 and TXW-1 appeared to belong to two different

undescribed genospecies, although TXW-1 was closely related to Borrelia

garinii. The MOK-3a group separated into a distinct deep branch in the

B. andersonii lineage. PCR-RFLP analysis results and the results of

sequence analyses of the rrf-rrl intergenic spacer confirm that greater

genetic heterogeneity exists among B. burgdorferi sensu lato strains

isolated from the southern United States than among strains isolated

from the northern United States. The B. andersonii genospecies and its

MOK-3a subgroup are associated with the I. dentatus-cottontail rabbit

enzootic cycle, but I. scapularis was also found to harbor a strain of

this genospecies. Strains that appear to be B. bissettii in our study

were isolated from I. minor and the cotton mouse, cotton rat, and wood

rat. The B. burgdorferi sensu stricto strains from the south are

genetically and phenotypically similar to the B31 reference strain.

PMID: 11427560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Stromdahl EY, on PC, Kollars TM Jr, SR, Barry RK, Vince

MA, Dobbs NA. Related Articles, Links

Evidence of Borrelia lonestari DNA in Amblyomma americanum (Acari:

Ixodidae) removed from humans.

J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Dec;41(12):5557-62.

PMID: 14662940 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

2: Stegall-Faulk T, DC, SM. Related Articles, Links

Detection of Borrelia lonestari in Amblyomma americanum (Acari:

Ixodidae) from Tennessee.

J Med Entomol. 2003 Jan;40(1):100-2.

PMID: 12597661 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

3: Dennis DT, Nekomoto TS, Victor JC, WS, Piesman J. Related

Articles, Links

Reported distribution of Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus

(Acari: Ixodidae) in the United States.

J Med Entomol. 1998 Sep;35(5):629-38.

PMID: 9775584 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

4: Durden LA, N. Related Articles, Links

Parasitic and phoretic arthropods of sylvatic and commensal

white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) in central Tennessee, with

notes on Lyme disease.

J Parasitol. 1991 Apr;77(2):219-23.

PMID: 2010854 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Kollars TM Jr, Ladine TA. Related Articles, Links

Patterns of infestation by adult Dermacentor variabilis (Acari:

Ixodidae) in a mark-recapture study of raccoons (Mammalia: Carnivora)

and Virginia opossums (Mammalia: Didelphimorphia) in Tennessee.

J Med Entomol. 1999 May;36(3):263-7.

PMID: 10337094 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

11: Lin T, Oliver JH Jr, Gao L, Kollars TM Jr, KL. Related

Articles, Links

Genetic heterogeneity of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in the

southern United States based on restriction fragment length

polymorphism and sequence analysis.

J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Jul;39(7):2500-7.

PMID: 11427560 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]