Publications

genetic analysis of borrelia garinii ospa serotype 4 strains associated with neuroborreliosis: evidence for extensive genetic homogeneity.	infection with borrelia garinii outer surface protein (osp) a serotype 4 strains has been correlated with the development of neuroborreliosis in lyme borreliosis patients in europe. ospa serotype 4 isolates have been recovered primarily from human cerebrospinal fluid, suggesting a tropism for this environment. previous studies with monoclonal antibodies directed against ospa and ospc demonstrated that ospa serotype 4 strains are antigenically closely related. in view of the pronounced antigenic ...	1999	10565915
transmission of borrelia garinii ospa serotype 4 to balb/c mice by ixodes ricinus ticks collected in the field.	in europe, borrelia garinii ospa serotype 4 has been isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of patients but, up to now, has never been identified among culture isolates from ixodes ricinus ticks. this information raises the question of whether ospa serotype 4 is transmitted by i. ricinus in nature. in the present study, i. ricinus nymphs collected in an area of endemicity in southern germany were allowed to feed on mice. cultivation of ear biopsy specimens showed that six of seven b. garinii-infe ...	2001	11230451
apodemus species mice are reservoir hosts of borrelia garinii ospa serotype 4 in switzerland.	among borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato isolates, seven outer surface protein a (ospa) serotypes have been described: serotypes 1 and 2 correspond to b. burgdorferi sensu stricto and borrelia afzelii, respectively, and serotypes 3 to 7 correspond to borrelia garinii. in europe, serotype 4 has never been isolated from ixodes ricinus ticks until recently, although this serotype has been frequently isolated from cerebrospinal fluid from patients. in europe, b. afzelii and b. burgdorferi sensu stricto ...	2002	12454181
a new borrelia species defined by multilocus sequence analysis of housekeeping genes.	analysis of lyme borreliosis (lb) spirochetes, using a novel multilocus sequence analysis scheme, revealed that ospa serotype 4 strains (a rodent-associated ecotype) of borrelia garinii were sufficiently genetically distinct from bird-associated b. garinii strains to deserve species status. we suggest that ospa serotype 4 strains be raised to species status and named borrelia bavariensis sp. nov. the rooted phylogenetic trees provide novel insights into the evolutionary history of lb spirochetes ...	2009	19542332
identification and functional characterisation of complement regulator acquiring surface protein-1 of serum resistant borrelia garinii ospa serotype 4.	b. burgdorferi sensu lato (sl) is the etiological agent of lyme borreliosis in humans. spirochetes have adapted themselves to the human immune system in many distinct ways. one important immune escape mechanism for evading complement activation is the binding of complement regulators factor h (cfh) or factor h-like protein1 (fhl-1) to complement regulator-acquiring surface proteins (crasps).	2010	20146822
the expanding lyme borrelia complex--clinical significance of genomic species?	ten years after the discovery of spirochaetes as agents of lyme disease in 1982 in the usa, three genomic species had diverged from the phenotypically heterogeneous strains of borrelia burgdorferi isolated in north america and europe: borrelia afzelii, b. burgdorferi sensu stricto (further b. burgdorferi), and borrelia garinii. whereas b. burgdorferi remained the only human pathogen in north america, all three species are aetiological agents of lyme borreliosis in europe. another seven genospeci ...	2011	21414082
borrelia bavariensis sp. nov. is widely distributed in europe and asia.	since the original description of borrelia bavariensis sp. nov. in 2009, additional samples available from humans and ticks from europe and mongolia, respectively, have been used to further characterize borrelia strains belonging to this group of spirochaetes that utilize rodents as reservoir hosts. these investigations suggested the presence of related strains in europe and asia and confirmed their status as representing a distinct species. furthermore, samples that were investigated by researc ...	2013	23838444
high prevalence of genetically diverse borrelia bavariensis-like strains in ixodes persulcatus from selenge aimag, mongolia.	in mongolia, lyme borreliosis was first reported in 2003. to determine which borrelia species may contribute to the occurrence of lyme borreliosis in mongolia, real-time pcr was conducted on 372 adult ixodes persulcatus ticks collected in selenge aimag, the province with the highest incidence of human lyme borreliosis. 24.5% of ticks were identified to be positive for borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato dna. species differentiation using an snp-based real-time pcr and multi-locus sequence analysis r ...	2013	23084366
low prevalence of borrelia bavariensis in ixodes ricinus ticks in southeastern austria.	borrelia bavariensis was recently described as a distinct genospecies among the b. burgdorferi sensu lato complex. the prevalence of b. bavariensis in austria, a highly endemic area for tick-transmitted pathogens, is scarcely characterized. to investigate the prevalence of b. bavariensis in ixodes ricinus ticks we reevaluated the results of a study conducted in 518 ticks from southeastern austria collected in 2002 and 2003. the presence of b. burgdorferi s.l.-specific dna in ticks was analyzed b ...	2014	25027234
ngs population genetics analyses reveal divergent evolution of a lyme borreliosis agent in europe and asia.	borrelia bavariensis is a recently described agent of lyme disease within the b. burgdorferi sensu lato species complex and exhibits a strong capacity for human pathogenicity. b. bavariensis strains are widely distributed in eurasia spanning the distribution range of the tick vectors ixodes persulcatus and i. ricinus. it has been suggested that b. bavariensis forms two populations, one of which arose through vector adaptation and geographic expansion. we have performed phylogenetic and populatio ...	2015	25766392
borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and co-infections with anaplasma phagocytophilum and rickettsia spp. in ixodes ricinus in hamburg, germany.	to obtain initial data on borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (spirochaetales: spirochaetaceae) in ixodes ricinus (ixodida: ixodidae) ticks in hamburg, germany, 1400 questing ticks were collected by flagging at 10 different public recreation areas in 2011 and analysed using probe-based quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. the overall rate of infection with b. burgdorferi s.l. was 34.1%; 30.0% of adults were infected (36.7% of females and 26.0% of males), as were 34.5% of nymphs. signifi ...	2015	26096626
oligoarthritis caused by borrelia bavariensis, austria, 2014.	a case of lyme oligoarthritis occurred in an 11-year-old boy in vienna, austria. dna of borrelia bavariensis was detected by pcr in 2 aspirates obtained from different joints. complete recovery was achieved after a 4-week course with amoxicillin. lyme arthritis must be considered in patients from europe who have persisting joint effusions.	2015	25992945
hide and seek: how lyme disease spirochetes overcome complement attack.	overcoming the first line of the innate immune system is a general hallmark of pathogenic microbes to avoid recognition and to enter the human host. in particular, spirochetes belonging to the borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex have developed various means to counter the immune response and to successfully survive in diverse host environments for a prolonged period of time. in regard to complement resistance, borrelia utilize a plethora of immune evasion strategies involves capturing of hos ...	2016	27725820
imbalanced presence of borrelia burgdorferi s.l. multilocus sequence types in clinical manifestations of lyme borreliosis.	in this study we used typing based on the eight multilocus sequence typing scheme housekeeping genes (mlst) and 5s-23s rdna intergenic spacer (igs) to explore the population structure of borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato isolates from patients with lyme borreliosis (lb) and to test the association between the b. burgdorferi s.l. sequence types (st) and the clinical manifestations they cause in humans. isolates of b. burgdorferi from 183 lb cases across europe, with distinct clinical manifestations ...	2016	27125686
occurrence of borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in different genera of mosquitoes (culicidae) in central europe.	lyme disease or lyme borreliosis is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by spirochetes of the borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex. some stages of the borrelial transmission cycle in ticks (transstadial, feeding and co-feeding) can potentially occur also in insects, particularly in mosquitoes. in the present study, adult as well as larval mosquitoes were collected at 42 different geographical locations throughout germany. this is the first study, in which german mosquitoes were analyzed ...	2016	26631488
bga66 and bga71 facilitate complement resistance of borrelia bavariensis by inhibiting assembly of the membrane attack complex.	borrelia (b.) bavariensis exhibits a marked tropism for nervous tissues and frequently causes neurological manifestations in humans. the molecular mechanism by which b. bavariensis overcomes innate immunity, in particular, complement remains elusive. in contrast to other serum-resistant spirochetes, none of the b. bavariensis isolates investigated bound complement regulators of the alternative (ap) and classical pathway (cp) or proteolytically inactivated complement components. focusing on outer ...	2016	26434356
evidence for borrelia bavariensis infections of ixodes uriae within seabird colonies of the north atlantic ocean.	the first report of members of the spirochete genus borrelia in the seabird tick, ixodes uriae, and seabird colonies occurred during the early 1990s. since then, borrelia spp. have been detected in these ticks and seabird colonies around the world. to-date, the primary species detected has been b. garinii, with rare occurrences of b. burgdorferi sensu stricto and b. lusitaniae. during our research on borrelia and i. uriae in seabird colonies of newfoundland and labrador, canada, we have identifi ...	2017	28802273
enzootic origins for clinical manifestations of lyme borreliosis.	both early localized and late disseminated forms of lyme borreliosis are caused by borrelia burgdorferi senso lato. differentiating between the spirochetes that only cause localized skin infection from those that cause disseminated infection, and tracing the group of medically-important spirochetes to a specific vertebrate host species, are two critical issues in disease risk assessment and management. borrelia burgdorferi senso lato isolates from lyme borreliosis cases with distinct clinical ma ...	2017	28040562
approaches for reverse line blot-based detection of microbial pathogens in ixodes ricinus ticks collected in austria and impact of the chosen method.	ticks transmit a large number of pathogens capable of causing human disease. in this study, the pcr-reverse line blot (rlb) method was used to screen for pathogens in a total of 554 ixodes ricinus ticks collected from all provinces of austria. these pathogens belong to the genera borrelia, rickettsiae, anaplasma/ehrlichia (including "candidatus neoehrlichia"), babesia, and coxiella the pathogens with the highest detected prevalence were spirochetes of the borrelia burgdorferisensu lato complex, ...	2017	28455331
detection and genetic characterization of a wide range of infectious agents in ixodes pavlovskyi ticks in western siberia, russia.	the ixodes pavlovskyi tick species, a member of the i. persulcatus/i. ricinus group, was discovered in the middle of the 20(th) century in the russian far east. limited data have been reported on the detection of infectious agents in this tick species. the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and genetic variability of a wide range of infectious agents in i. pavlovskyi ticks collected in their traditional and recently invaded habitats, the altai mountains and novosibirsk province, ...	2017	28545549
borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in ixodes longiscutatus ticks from brazilian pampa.	borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) complex includes the agents of lyme disease/borreliosis in north america, europe, and asia, such borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, borrelia afzelii, borrelia garinii, borrelia bavariensis, borrelia spielmanii, borrelia bissettiae, and borrelia mayonii. in 2013 b. burgdorferi s.l. was reported for the first time in the neotropical region, from ixodes aragaoi ticks in uruguayan pampa. in addition, from 2011 to 2016, 17 suspected human cases of borreliosis-l ...	2017	28847698
melting pot of tick-borne zoonoses: the european hedgehog contributes to the maintenance of various tick-borne diseases in natural cycles urban and suburban areas.	european hedgehogs (erinaceus europaeus) are urban dwellers and host both ixodes ricinus and ixodes hexagonus. these ticks transmit several zoonotic pathogens like borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato), anaplasma phagocytophilum, rickettsia helvetica, borrelia miyamotoi and "candidatus neoehrlichia mikurensis". it is unclear to what extent hedgehogs in (sub) urban areas contribute to the presence of infected ticks in these areas, which subsequently pose a risk for acquiring a tick-borne disease. the ...	2017	28270232