Novel Relapsing Fever Spirochete in Bat Tick

Authors

James S. Gill, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
Amy J. Ullmann, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Amanda D. Loftis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Tom G. Schwan, Rocky Mountain Laboratories of National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
Sandra J. Raffel, Rocky Mountain Laboratories of National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
Merry E. Schrumpf, Rocky Mountain Laboratories of National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
Joseph Piesman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA

Date of this Version

3-2008

Comments

Published in Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 14, No. 3, March 2008.

Abstract

Tick-borne relapsing fever in western North America is a zoonosis caused by spirochetes in the genus Borrelia that are transmitted by argasid ticks of the genus Ornithodoros (1). Human disease occurs in many focal areas and is associated with infections of Borrelia hermsii, B. turicatae, and possibly B. parkeri (2,3). Although the ecologic parameters that maintain B. hermsii and B. turicatae differ, human infections usually occur in rustic cabins (B. hermsii) and caves (B. turicatae) inhabited by ticks and their terrestrial vertebrate hosts (1). Recently, Gill et al. (4) provided evidence that the argasid bat tick, Carios kelleyi, feeds upon humans. Subsequently, Loftis et al. (5) used PCR analysis and DNA sequencing to detect in C. kelleyi an unidentifi ed Borrelia species that was closely related to B. turicatae and B. parkeri.