Volume 14, Number 7—July 2008
Research
Wide Distribution of a High-Virulence Borrelia burgdorferi Clone in Europe and North America
Wei-Gang Qiu*
, John F. Bruno†, William D. McCaig*, Yun Xu†, Ian Livey‡, Martin E. Schriefer§, and Benjamin J. Luft†
, John F. Bruno†, William D. McCaig*, Yun Xu†, Ian Livey‡, Martin E. Schriefer§, and Benjamin J. Luft†Table 1
Borrelia burgdorferi isolates*
| Isolates studied† | ospC type‡ | Biologic origin | US frequency§ | EU frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B31, CS1, CS2, CS3, 132a, 132b, IP1, IP2, IP3, Ho, HB1, Lenz, L65, PKa2, HII | A | Ixodes scapularis, human | 6 (New York) | 13 (France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia) |
| N40, 88a, 167bjm, SD91, NP14 | E | I. scapularis, human | 3 (New York) | 6 (Hungary) |
| 136b, 163b, 297, CS6, CS9, OEA11 | K | I. scapularis, human | 6 (New England) | 1 (Hungary) |
| 109a, 160b, 64b, CS7, MI415¶ | B1 | I. scapularis, human, Peromyscus leucopus | 5 (New York, Michigan) | 0 |
| JD1 | C | I. scapularis | 1 (Massachusetts) | 0 |
| 121a | D | Human | 1 (New York) | 0 |
| MI407 | F | P. leucopus | 1 (Michigan) | 0 |
| 72a | G | Human | 1 (New York) | 0 |
| 156a, 156b, MI403, MI411 | H | Human, Tamias striatus | 4 (New York, Michigan) | 0 |
| 86b, 97b, MI409¶ | I | Human, T. striatus | 3 (New York, Michigan) | 0 |
| 118a | J | Human | 1 (New York) | 0 |
| CS8, 80a, MI418¶ | N | I. scapularis, human, P. leucopus | 3 (New York, Michigan) | 0 |
| 94a, CS5 | U | Human, I. scapularis | 2 (New York) | 0 |
| Bol12, VS219,¶ Lx36, ZS7 | B2 | I. ricinus, human | 0 | 17 (Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, Germany) |
| Y1, Y10, 217–5, Bol6, Z6 | L | I. ricinus | 0 | 10 (Finland, Poland, Italy, Austria) |
| Fr-93/1, Bol15, Bol25, Bol27 | Q | I. ricinus, human | 0 | 4 (Poland, Italy) |
| Bol26,¶ Z9, PO7 | S | I. ricinus, human | 0 | 3 (Italy, Austria) |
| Bol29, Bol30 | V | Human | 0 | 15 (Italy, Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany) |
| SV1 | X | I. ricinus | 0 | 1 (Finland) |
| Ri5 | W | I. ricinus | 0 | 1 (Finland) |
*ospC, outer surface protein C; US, United States; EU, European Union.
†Isolates subjected to multilocus sequence typing analysis.
‡Type names follow (13), except that B was split to B1 and B2, and 3 new types (V, X, W) were assigned to European isolates.
§Number and geographic origins of an ospC type in our collection.
¶Isolates showing evidence for plasmid-chromosome recombination.
