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Microbes Infect. 2006 May 30; [Epub ahead of print] Related Articles, Links
Persistent brain infection and disease reactivation in relapsing fever borreliosis.
Larsson C, Andersson M, Pelkonen J, Guo BP, Nordstrand A, Bergstrom S.
Department of Molecular Biology, Umea University, SE-901 87 Umea, Sweden.
Relapsing fever, an infection caused by Borrelia spirochetes, is generally considered a transient, self-limiting disease in humans.
The present study reveals that murine infection by Borrelia duttonii can be reactivated after an extended time as a silent infection in the brain, with no bacteria appearing in the blood and spirochete load comparable to the numbers in an infected tick. The host cerebral gene expression pattern is indistinguishable from that of uninfected animals, indicating that persistent bacteria are not recognized by the immune system nor cause noticeable tissue damage. Silent infection can be reactivated by immunosuppression, inducing spirochetemia comparable to that of initial densities. B. duttonii has never been found in any host except man and the tick vector.
We therefore propose the brain to be a possible natural reservoir of the spirochete. The view of relapsing fever as an acute disease should be extended to include in some cases prolonged persistence, a feature characteristic of the related spirochetal infections Lyme disease and syphilis.
PMID: 16782384 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
-------------------- We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand... and melting like a snowflake. Let us use it before it is too late. Posts: 221 | From the hills | Registered: Mar 2006
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-------------------- **Eat Chocolate** Posts: 942 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2005
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
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Thanks so much for posting this. Could explain a lot for some who live in area's that are well known for relapsing fever. I wondered how one strain of borrelia could be so different in that it was self limiting.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
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Good find, Snowflake. Always very intriguing to see other countries doing meaningful research while our own useless doctors (Steere, Shapiro et al) squander precious research money covering it all up.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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