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Case Reports
. 1999 Jun;37(6):2027-30.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.37.6.2027-2030.1999.

Tick-borne relapsing fever imported from West Africa: diagnosis by quantitative buffy coat analysis and in vitro culture of Borrelia crocidurae

A P van Dam  1 , T van Gool, J C Wetsteyn, J Dankert
Affiliations
Case Reports

Tick-borne relapsing fever imported from West Africa: diagnosis by quantitative buffy coat analysis and in vitro culture of Borrelia crocidurae

A P van Dam et al. J Clin Microbiol. 1999 Jun.

Abstract

West African tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is difficult to diagnose due to the low number of spirochetes in the bloodstream of patients. Previously, the causative microorganism, Borrelia crocidurae, had never been cultured in vitro. TBRF was rapidly diagnosed for two patients returning from western Africa with fever of unknown origin by quantitative buffy coat (QBC) analysis. Diagnosis was confirmed by intraperitoneal inoculation of blood specimens from patients into laboratory mice. In vitro experiments showed that QBC analysis may be as much as 100-fold more sensitive than thick smear. Spirochetes were also cultured from blood samples from both patients in modified Kelly's medium and were identified as B. crocidurae by partial sequencing of the PCR-amplified rrs gene.

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Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Acridine-orange-stained spirochetes as seen in QBC analysis of blood from patient 2. Magnification, ×500.
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