Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Borrelia burgdorferi tissue morphologies and imaging methodologies

  • Article
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This manuscript offers an image presentation of diverse forms of Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes which are not spiral or corkscrew shaped. Explanations are offered to justify the legitimacy of tissue forms of Borrelia which may confuse the inexperienced microscopic examiner and which may lead to the misdiagnosis of non-spiral forms as artifacts. Images from the author’s personal collection of Borrelia burgdorferi images and a few select images of Borrelia burgdorferi from the peer-reviewed published literature are presented. A commentary justifying each of the image profiles and a survey of the imaging modalities utilized provides the reader with a frame of reference. Regularly spiraled Borrelia are rarely seen in solid tissues. A variety of straightened, undulating, and clipped-off profiles are demonstrated, and the structural basis for each image is explained. Tissue examination is a diagnostic tool and a quality control for judging the eradication or the persistence of borreliosis following attempts to eradicate the infection with antibiotic therapy. The presence or absence of chronic Lyme borreliosis may be objectively adjudicated by tissue examinations which demonstrate or which fail to show pathogenic microbes in patients who have received a full course of antibiotics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Burgdorfer W, Barbour AG, Hayes SF, Benach JL, Grunwaldt E, Davis JP (1982) Lyme disease—a tick-borne spirochetosis? Science 216(4552):1317–1319. doi:10.1126/science.7043737

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Burgdorfer W, Barbour AG, Hayes SF, Péter O, Aeschlimann A (1983) Erythema chronicum migrans—a tickborne spirochetosis. Acta Trop 40(1):70–83, PMD 6134457

    Google Scholar 

  3. Burgdorfer W (1984) Discovery of the Lyme disease spirochete and its relation to tick vectors. Yale J Biol Med 57(4):515–520, PMCID 2590008

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Embers ME, Barthold SW, Borda JT, Bowers L, Doyle L, Hodzic E et al (2012) Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in rhesus macaques following antibiotic treatment of disseminated infection. PLoS One 7(1):e29914. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0029914

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Barbour AG, Hayes SF, Heiland RA, Schrumpf ME, Tessier SL (1986) A Borrelia-specific monoclonal antibody binds to a flagellar epitope. Infect Immun 52(2):549–554, PMCID 261035

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. MacDonald AB (1989) Gestational Lyme borreliosis. Implications for the fetus. Rheum Dis Clin North Am 15(4):657–677, PMD 2685924

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sadziene A, Thomas DD, Bundoc VG, Holt SC, Barbour AG (1991) A flagella-less mutant of Borrelia burgdorferi. Structural, molecular, and in vitro functional characterization. J Clin Invest 88(1):82–92

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Sartakova ML, Elena Y, Dobrikova M, Motaleb MA, Godfrey HP, Charon NW, Cabello FC (2001) Complementation of a nonmotile flaB mutant of Borrelia burgdorferi by chromosomal integration of a plasmid containing a wild-type flaB allele. J Bacteriol 183(22):6658–6564, PMCID 95486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Berger BW, Clemmensen OJ, Ackerman AB (1983) Lyme disease is a spirochetosis. A review of the disease and evidence for its cause. Am J Dermatopathol 5(2):111–124, PMID 6410931

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Eisendle K, Grabner T, Zelger B (2007) Focus floating microscopy: “gold standard” for cutaneous borreliosis? Am J Clin Pathol 127(2):213–222, PMID 1721053

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hammer B, Moter A, Kahl O, Alberti G, Göbel UB (2001) Visualization of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on whole-body sections of Ixodes ricinus ticks and gerbil skin biopsies. Microbiology 147(Pt 6):1425–1436, PMID 11390674

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Eshoo MW, Crowder CC, Rebman AW, Rounds MA, Matthews HE, Picuri JM et al (2012) Direct molecular detection and genotyping of Borrelia burgdorferi from whole blood of patients with early Lyme disease. PLoS One 7(5):e36825. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036825

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Financial support for this research was provided by a grant from the Tick Borne Disease Alliance (TBDA),244 Fifth Avenue,Suite 1450,New York, New York, 10001, USA.Tel: +1-646-4504882. Fax: +1-914-9677744.

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Dr. Eva Sapi Borrelia Research Laboratory, University of New Haven, 1211 Campbell Ave., Charger Plaza, Suite 5, West Haven, CT, 06516, USA

    A. B. MacDonald

Authors
  1. A. B. MacDonald
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. B. MacDonald.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

MacDonald, A.B. Borrelia burgdorferi tissue morphologies and imaging methodologies. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 32, 1077–1082 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-1853-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-013-1853-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation