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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 1999, p. 890-896, Vol. 37, No. 4
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Isolation of Lyme Disease Borrelia from Puffins (Fratercula arctica) and Seabird Ticks (Ixodes uriae) on the Faeroe Islands

Åsa Gylfe,1 Björn Olsen,1,2 Darius Strasevicius,1 Nuria Marti Ras,3 Pál Weihe,4 Laila Noppa,1 Yngve Östberg,1 Guy Baranton,3 and Sven Bergström1,*

Departments of Microbiology1 and Infectious Diseases,2 Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden; Unité de Bactériologie Moléculaire et Médicale, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France3; and Department of Occupational and Public Health, The Faeroese Hospital System, FR 100 Tórshavn, The Faeroe Islands4

Received 7 August 1998/Returned for modification 22 October 1998/Accepted 21 December 1998

This is the first report on the isolation of Lyme disease Borrelia from seabirds on the Faeroe Islands and the characteristics of its enzootic cycle. The major components of the Borrelia cycle include the puffin (Fratercula arctica) as the reservoir and Ixodes uriae as the vector. The importance of this cycle and its impact on the spread of human Lyme borreliosis have not yet been established. Borrelia spirochetes isolated from 2 of 102 sampled puffins were compared to the borreliae previously obtained from seabird ticks, I. uriae. The rrf-rrl intergenic spacer and the rrs and the ospC genes were sequenced and a series of phylogenetic trees were constructed. Sequence data and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis grouped the strains together with Borrelia garinii. In a seroepidemiological survey performed with residents involved in puffin hunting on the Faeroe Islands, 3 of 81 serum samples were found to be positive by two commonly used clinical tests: a flagellin-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blotting. These three positive serum samples also had high optical density values in a whole-cell ELISA. The finding of seropositive Faeroe Islanders who are regularly exposed to I. uriae indicate that there may be a transfer of B. garinii by this tick species to humans.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Umeå University, S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. Phone: 46-90-7856726. Fax: 46-90-772630. E-mail: Sven.Bergstrom{at}micro.umu.se.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, April 1999, p. 890-896, Vol. 37, No. 4
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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