Elhelw Rehab A, El-Enbaawy Mona I, Samir Ahmed
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, PO Box 12211, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, PO Box 12211, Cairo, Egypt.
Acta Trop. 2014 Dec;140:188-92. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2014.09.005. Epub 2014 Sep 18.
Borrelia burgdorferi, the causal organism of Lyme borreliosis. In Egypt, available data about the occurrence of Lyme disease are scarce and no structured studies documented the presence of Lyme borreliosis in Egyptian animals and tick reservoirs verifying its zoonotic evidence. Besides, no successful trials to isolate B. burgdorferi from clinical samples have occurred. This study was conducted to investigate B. burgdorferi infection as an emerging zoonosis neglected in Egypt. A total number of 92 animals, tick and human companion specimens were collected and subjected for culture, PCR and/or serodetection. B. burgdorferi has been detected and isolated from Egyptian animal breeds. We also detected the presence of outer surface protein A gene of B. burgdorferi by PCR as well as anti-B. burgdorferi IgM by ELISA in human contacts who were suffering from fever of unknown origin. This report represents the first systematic study on animals associated with patients suffering from febrile illness to confirm the emerging of such neglected zoonosis in Egypt.
伯氏疏螺旋体是莱姆病的致病病原体。在埃及，关于莱姆病发生情况的现有数据匮乏，且没有结构化研究记录埃及动物和蜱类宿主中莱姆病螺旋体病的存在情况以证实其人畜共患病证据。此外，也没有从临床样本中成功分离出伯氏疏螺旋体的试验。本研究旨在调查埃及被忽视的新兴人畜共患病——伯氏疏螺旋体感染情况。总共收集了92份动物、蜱类和人类伴侣样本，并进行培养、聚合酶链反应（PCR）和/或血清检测。已从埃及动物品种中检测并分离出伯氏疏螺旋体。我们还通过PCR检测到了伯氏疏螺旋体的外表面蛋白A基因，并且在不明原因发热的人类接触者中通过酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）检测到了抗伯氏疏螺旋体免疫球蛋白M（IgM）。本报告是对与发热性疾病患者相关动物进行的首次系统性研究，以确认埃及这种被忽视的人畜共患病的出现。
