[Correspondence] Borrelia mayonii: prying open Pandora's box of spirochetes

Bobbi Pritt and colleagues1 reveal that Borrelia mayonii is a new member of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, and show that this spirochete is pathogenic to human beings. However, the authors err on several key points. They state B burgdorferi sensu stricto was previously the only cause of Lyme borreliosis in the USA. With the discovery of B mayonii, they take credit for describing the first non-B burgdorferi sensu stricto in patients in the USA; this assumption is not true. Girard and colleagues2 reported B bissettii in patients in California and Clark and colleagues3 documented B americana and B andersonii in human blood from residents in the southeastern USA.
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research