Human serological response to louse-borne relapsing fever.

Serodiagnosis of Louse-Borne relapsing fever with glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase (GlpQ) from Borrelia recurrentis.

Human louse-borne relapsing fever occurs in sporadic outbreaks in central and eastern Africa that are characterized by significant morbidity and mortality. Isolates of the causative agent, Borrelia recurrentis, were obtained from the blood of four patients during a recent epidemic of the disease in southern Sudan. The glpQ gene, encoding glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase, from these isola...

Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis) in an Eritrean refugee arriving in Switzerland, August 2015.

We report an imported case of louse-borne relapsing fever in a young adult Eritrean refugee who presented with fever shortly after arriving in Switzerland. Analysis of blood smears revealed spirochetes identified as Borrelia recurrentis by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We believe that louse-borne relapsing fever may be seen more frequently in Europe as a consequence of a recent increase in refugees...

Forgotten diseases: relapsing fever.

Relapsing fever is a group of conditions that is characterized by recurrent febrile episodes interspaced with periods of no symptoms at all. They are arthropod-borne spirochetal infections of the Borrellia genus and occur in two main forms: tick-borne and louse-borne. Tick-borne relapsing fever is a zoonosis that is found worldwide. The louse-borne relapsing fever is caused by B. recurrentis, a...

Cardiorespiratory disturbances associated with infective fever in man: studies of Ethiopian louse-borne relapsing fever.

Borrelia recurrentis in Head Lice, Ethiopia

Since the 1800s, the only known vector of Borrelia recurrentis has been the body louse. In 2011, we found B. recurrentis DNA in 23% of head lice from patients with louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia. Whether head lice can transmit these bacteria from one person to another remains to be determined.