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Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States
Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and Babesia microti, a causative agent of babesiosis, are increasingly implicated in the growing tick-borne disease burden in the northeastern United States. These pathogens are transmitted via the bite of an infected tick vector, Ixodes sca...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677215/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26697208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/587131 |
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author | Knapp, Kristen L. Rice, Nancy A. |
author_facet | Knapp, Kristen L. Rice, Nancy A. |
author_sort | Knapp, Kristen L. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and Babesia microti, a causative agent of babesiosis, are increasingly implicated in the growing tick-borne disease burden in the northeastern United States. These pathogens are transmitted via the bite of an infected tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, which is capable of harboring and inoculating a host with multiple pathogens simultaneously. Clinical presentation of the diseases is heterogeneous and ranges from mild flu-like symptoms to near-fatal cardiac arrhythmias. While the reason for the variability is not known, the possibility exists that concomitant infection with both B. burgdorferi and B. microti may synergistically increase disease severity. In an effort to clarify the current state of understanding regarding coinfection with B. burgdorferi and B. microti, in this review, we discuss the geographical distribution and pathogenesis of Lyme disease and babesiosis in the United States, the immunological response of humans to B. burgdorferi or B. microti infection, the existing knowledge regarding coinfection disease pathology, and critical factors that have led to ambiguity in the literature regarding coinfection, in order to eliminate confusion in future experimental design and investigation. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4677215 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Hindawi Publishing Corporation |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-46772152015-12-22 Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States Knapp, Kristen L. Rice, Nancy A. J Parasitol Res Review Article Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, and Babesia microti, a causative agent of babesiosis, are increasingly implicated in the growing tick-borne disease burden in the northeastern United States. These pathogens are transmitted via the bite of an infected tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, which is capable of harboring and inoculating a host with multiple pathogens simultaneously. Clinical presentation of the diseases is heterogeneous and ranges from mild flu-like symptoms to near-fatal cardiac arrhythmias. While the reason for the variability is not known, the possibility exists that concomitant infection with both B. burgdorferi and B. microti may synergistically increase disease severity. In an effort to clarify the current state of understanding regarding coinfection with B. burgdorferi and B. microti, in this review, we discuss the geographical distribution and pathogenesis of Lyme disease and babesiosis in the United States, the immunological response of humans to B. burgdorferi or B. microti infection, the existing knowledge regarding coinfection disease pathology, and critical factors that have led to ambiguity in the literature regarding coinfection, in order to eliminate confusion in future experimental design and investigation. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2015 2015-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4677215/ /pubmed/26697208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/587131 Text en Copyright © 2015 K. L. Knapp and N. A. Rice. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Review Article Knapp, Kristen L. Rice, Nancy A. Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title | Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title_full | Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title_fullStr | Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title_full_unstemmed | Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title_short | Human Coinfection with Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti in the United States |
title_sort | human coinfection with borrelia burgdorferi and babesia microti in the united states |
topic | Review Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4677215/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26697208 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/587131 |
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