TY - JOUR AU - Richter, Dania AU - Schlee, Daniela B. AU - Matuschka, Franz-Rainer T1 - Relapsing Fever–Like Spirochetes Infecting European Vector Tick of Lyme Disease Agent T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2003 VL - 9 IS - 6 SP - 697 SN - 1080-6059 AB - To determine whether relapsing fever–like spirochetes associated with hard ticks may infect Ixodes ricinus ticks in central Europe, we screened questing ticks for 16S rDNA similar to that of Asian and American relapsing fever–like spirochetes. We compared the prevalence of these spirochetes to that of Lyme disease spirochetes transmitted by the same vector. Relapsing fever-like spirochetes infect 3.5% of questing vector ticks in our three central European sites near the Rhein Valley. These spirochetes differ genetically from their American and Asian analogs while being relatively homogeneous in the region we sampled. The Lyme disease genospecies most commonly detected in central Europe are distributed broadly, whereas those that are less frequently found appear to be place-specific. The absence of co-infected ticks suggests that relapsing fever–like and Lyme disease spirochetes may not share hosts. Exposure risk for relapsing fever–like spirochetes is similar to that of certain Lyme disease genospecies. Although many persons may be bitten by ticks infected by relapsing fever–like spirochetes, health implications remain unknown. KW - spirochetes KW - relapsing fever KW - Lyme disease KW - hard ticks KW - genospecies KW - Ixodes ricinus KW - research KW - Germany KW - France DO - 10.3201/eid0906.020459 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/6/02-0459_article ER - End of Reference