Emerg Infect Dis. 2018 Sep;24(9):1659-1664. doi: 10.3201/eid2409.171381.
Tickborne relapsing fever caused by Borrelia species is rarely reported in travelers returning from Africa. We report a case of a 71-year-old woman who sought treatment at University Medical Center in Freiburg, Germany, in 2015 with recurrent fever after traveling to southern Africa. We detected spirochetes in Giemsa-stained blood smears. Treatment with doxycycline for suspected tickborne relapsing fever was successful. Sequence analyses of several loci (16S rRNA, flagellin, uvrA) showed high similarity to the recently described Candidatus Borrelia kalaharica, which was found in a traveler returning from the same region earlier that year. We provide additional information regarding the genetic relationship of Candidatus B. kalaharica. Sequence information for an additional 6 housekeeping genes enables improved comparability to other borrelial species that cause relapsing fever. Our report underlines the importance and possible emergence of the only recently delineated pathogen in southern Africa.
由螺旋体属细菌引起的蜱传回归热在从非洲返回的旅行者中很少见报道。我们报告了一例 71 岁女性的病例，该患者于 2015 年前往非洲南部旅行后出现反复发作性发热，在德国弗赖堡大学医学中心就诊。我们在吉姆萨染色的血涂片上发现了螺旋体。疑似蜱传回归热的多西环素治疗取得了成功。对几个基因座（16S rRNA、鞭毛蛋白、uvrA）的序列分析显示与同年早些时候从同一地区返回的旅行者中发现的新近描述的候选伯氏疏螺旋体卡哈拉亚种高度相似。我们提供了有关候选伯氏疏螺旋体卡哈拉亚种遗传关系的更多信息。另外 6 个管家基因的序列信息使与引起回归热的其他疏螺旋体物种的比较更加具有可比性。我们的报告强调了在南非新近划定的病原体的重要性和可能出现。
