DETECTION OF BORRELIA SPIROCHETES IN TICKS WITH q16 REAL-TIME PCR

Abstract

Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. spirochaetes. It is transmitted by several hard ticks of the genus Ixodes, mainly Ixodes ricinus in Europe. Higher environment temperature caused by climate changes is linked to a higher activity of ticks during most of the year, thus the importance of tick-borne diseases is increasing in the region.

A total of 90 ticks were collected by removing from humans. Every tick collected was identified regarding the species. Total of 79 ticks belonging to the genus Ixodes were tested for the presence of the pathogen strains of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l, Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia garinii and Borrelia burgdoreri sensu stricto by a real-time PCR assay targeting the recA gene.  In total, 8 of them tested positive. Representative samples were tested with conventional PCR and results were in accordance.

This study showed that the Genesig q16 Real-Time PCR is an easy diagnostic test for fast detection of Borrelia spirochetes in ticks.

Key words: Lyme disease, tick-borne disease, real-time PCR, Borrelia