A new strain of Lyme Disease

"The diagnoses of Lyme disease based on clinical manifestations, serological findings and detection of infectious agents often contradict each other…"

Milford Hospital Pathologist Identifies New Strain of Lyme Disease by DNA Sequencing

International Report: New bacteria found in patient blood sample is undetectable in standard serology Lyme test, reports Milford Hospital pathologist

March 13, 2014 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

MILFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Patients with clinical Lyme disease may not be infected by the Lyme disease spirochete (bacteria), but in fact by other related bacteria, such as Borrelia miyamotoi and a new, as yet unnamed spirochete according to a paper just published this month in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences http://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/15/3/4284/.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2014, 15(3), 4284-4298; doi:10.3390/ijms15034284

Article

Detection of Borreliae in Archived Sera from Patients with Clinically Suspect Lyme Disease

Sin Hang Lee ^1,* , Jessica S. Vigliotti ¹, Veronica S. Vigliotti ¹, William Jones ¹ and David M. Shearer ²

¹ Department of Pathology, Milford Hospital, 300 Seaside Ave., Milford, CT 06460, USA² Therapeutic Research Foundation, Old Saybrook, CT 06475, USA

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 27 January 2014; in revised form: 1 March 2014 / Accepted: 4 March 2014 / Published: 11 March 2014

(This article belongs to the Section Molecular Diagnostics)

 Download PDF Full-Text [2086 KB, uploaded 11 March 2014 11:45 CET]

Abstract: The diagnoses of Lyme disease based on clinical manifestations, serological findings and detection of infectious agents often contradict each other. We tested 52 blind-coded serum samples, including 20 pre-treatment and 12 post-treatment sera from clinically suspect Lyme disease patients, for the presence of residual Lyme disease infectious agents, using nested PCR amplification of a signature segment of the borrelial 16S ribosomal RNA gene for detection and direct DNA sequencing of the PCR amplicon for molecular validation. These archived sera were split from the samples drawn for the 2-tier serology tests performed by a CDC-approved laboratory, and are used as reference materials for evaluating new diagnostic reagents. Of the 12 post-treatment serum samples, we found DNA evidence of a novel borrelia of uncertain significance in one, which was also positive for the 2-tier serology test. The rest of the post-treatment sera and all 20 control sera were PCR-negative. Of the 20 pre-treatment sera from clinically suspect early Lyme disease patients, we found Borrelia miyamotoi in one which was 2-tier serology-negative, and a Borrelia burgdorferi in two—one negative and one positive for 2-tier serology. We conclude that a sensitive and reliable DNA-based test is needed to support the diagnosis of Lyme disease and Lyme disease-like borreliosis.

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