TY - JOUR AU - Cerar, Tjasa AU - Strle, Franc AU - Stupica, Dasa AU - Ruzic-Sabljic, Eva AU - McHugh, Gail AU - Steere, Allen AU - Strle, Klemen T1 - Differences in Genotype, Clinical Features, and Inflammatory Potential of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto Strains from Europe and the United States T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2016 VL - 22 IS - 5 SP - 818 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto isolates from patients with erythema migrans in Europe and the United States were compared by genotype, clinical features of infection, and inflammatory potential. Analysis of outer surface protein C and multilocus sequence typing showed that strains from these 2 regions represent distinct genotypes. Clinical features of infection with B. burgdorferi in Slovenia were similar to infection with B. afzelii or B. garinii, the other 2 Borrelia spp. that cause disease in Europe, whereas B. burgdorferi strains from the United States were associated with more severe disease. Moreover, B. burgdorferi strains from the United States induced peripheral blood mononuclear cells to secrete higher levels of cytokines and chemokines associated with innate and Th1-adaptive immune responses, whereas strains from Europe induced greater Th17-associated responses. Thus, strains of the same B. burgdorferi species from Europe and the United States represent distinct clonal lineages that vary in virulence and inflammatory potential. KW - Lyme borreliosis KW - Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto KW - bacteria KW - genotype KW - RNA intergenic spacer type KW - outer surface protein C KW - multilocus sequencing typing KW - erythema migrans KW - clinical features KW - inflammatiory potential KW - Europe KW - United States KW - B. afzelii KW - B. garinii KW - inflammatory potential KW - Slovenia DO - 10.3201/eid2205.151806 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/5/15-1806_article ER - End of Reference