New World relapsing fever Borrelia found in Ornithodoros porcinus ticks in central Tanzania

Abstract

Ticks were collected from 8 houses in Mvumi Mission village, near Dodoma, Tanzania. All ticks were examined for Borrelia infestation by flagellin gene-based nested polymerase chain reaction. All houses were highly infested with ticks, and all ticks collected were of the Ornithodoros porcinus species. Fifty-one out of 120 ticks were infected with spirochetes, and a flagellin gene sequence comparison showed that most of the spirochetes belonged to Borrelia duttonii, which is the causative agent of tick-borne relapsing fever in East Africa. The rest of the spirochetes were quite different from B. duttonii and instead resembled the New World tick-borne relapsing fever borreliae. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequences also supported the interpretation that the spirochete was a Borrelia species distinct from previously described members of the genus.