Lyme Borreliosis: Is there a preexisting (natural) variation in antimicrobial susceptibility among Borrelia burgdorferi strains?

Lyme Borreliosis: Is there a preexisting (natural) variation in antimicrobial susceptibility among Borrelia burgdorferi strains? Bosn J Basic Med Sci. 2015;15(3):1-13 Authors: Hodzic E Abstract The development of antibiotics changed the world of medicine and has saved countless human and animal lives. Bacterial resistance/tolerance to antibiotics have spread silently across the world and has emerged as a major public health concern. The recent emergence of pan-resistant bacteria can overcome virtually any antibiotic and poses a major problem for their successful control. Selection for antibiotic resistance may take place where an antibiotic is present: in the skin, gut, and other tissues of humans and animals and in the environment. Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiological agents of Lyme borreliosis, evades host immunity and establishes persistent infections in its mammalian hosts. The persistent infection poses a challenge to the effective antibiotic treatment, as demonstrated in various animal models. An increasingly heterogeneous subpopulation of replicatively attenuated spirochetes arises following treatment, and these persistent antimicrobial tolerant/resistant spirochetes are non-cultivable. The non-cultivable spirochetes resurge in multiple tissues at 12 months after treatment, with B. burgdorferi-specific DNA copy levels nearly equivalent to those found in shame-treated experimental animals. These attenuated spirochetes remain ...
Source: Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences - Category: Journals (General) Tags: Bosn J Basic Med Sci Source Type: research