Molecular Testing of Serial Blood Specimens from Patients with Early Lyme Disease during Treatment Reveals Changing Coinfection with Mixtures of Borrelia burgdorferi Genotypes

Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019 Jun 24;63(7):e00237-19. doi: 10.1128/AAC.00237-19. Print 2019 Jul.

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi is the etiological agent of Lyme disease. In the current study, we used direct-detection PCR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry to monitor and genotype B. burgdorferi isolates from serially collected whole-blood specimens from patients clinically diagnosed with early Lyme disease before and during 21 days of antibiotic therapy. B. burgdorferi isolates were detected up to 3 weeks after the initiation of antibiotic treatment, with ratios of coinfecting B. burgdorferi genotypes changing over time.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Lyme disease; antibiotic; genotype; time course.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / drug effects*
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / genetics
  • Borrelia burgdorferi / pathogenicity*
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Lyme Disease / drug therapy*
  • Lyme Disease / microbiology*
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents