2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Molecular epidemiology of relapsing fever and prevention of Borrelia infection
| Project/Area Number |
14570250
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Bacteriology (including Mycology)
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| Research Institution | Fukuyama University |
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Principal Investigator |
FUKUNAGA Masahito FUKUNAGA,Masahito, 薬学部, 教授 (20132483)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TABUCHI Norihiko Fukuyama University, Faclty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Research Associate, 薬学部, 助手 (60330685)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2003
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| Keywords | Borrelia / Ornithodoros porcinus / relapsing fever epidemiology / flagellin based nested PCR / arthropod vector / phylogenetic analysis |
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| Research Abstract |
The population of a central Tanzanian village were investigated for Borrelia sp. spirochaetes by blood slide examination, nested PCR for vector ticks and human blood samples. PCR was twice as sensitive in detecting infections, revealing Borrelia sp. in 11.1% of children with fever, and 4.2% of otherwise healthy children. Genotyping Borrelia sp. from 18 infections identified Borrelia duttonji and a new unnamed species, not known from humans or other vertebrates. Phylogenetic analysis of this Borrelia was resembled New World relapsing fever borreliae. Previously isolated from Ornithodoros porcinus ticks infesting houses, this is a new causative agent of tick-borne relapsing fever in Central Tanzania. Ticks were also collected from the houses in Mvumi Mission village, near Dodoma, Tanzania. All ticks were examined for Borrelia infestation by flagellin gene-based nested polymerase chain reaction. All houses were highly infested with ticks, and all ticks collected were of the Ornithodoros porcinus species. Fifty-one out of 120 ticks were infected with spirochetes, and a flagellin gene sequence comparison showed that most of the spirochetes belonged to Borrelia duttonii, which is the causative agent of tick-borne relapsing fever in East Africa. The rest of the spirochetes were quite different from B. duttonii. This indicates the new Borrelia is distributed and is causative agent of relapsing fever in the area. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences also supported that the spirochete was a Borrelia species distinct from previously described members of the genus.
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