Ahmed Samir, Ahmed Fahmy, Essam Hatem M and Ahmed Orabi
Background: Lyme borreliosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by a tick bite, primarily from Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus. In Egypt, few articles reported the existence of Lyme disease in humans and animals. The aim of the current study is to investigate the presence of B. burgdorferi in dogs, ticks and contact human cases in Egypt.
Methods and Findings: A total of 100 samples of dogs (70), contact human (15) and ticks (15) were collected and subjected for culture, PCR and/or IgM ELISA. 50/70 (71.4%) of canine sera were sero-reactive, while 3/15 (20%) in human cases were reactive. OspA gene was detected in the blood of 13 out of 70 dogs (18.5%). 6/15 (4%) ticks (Rhipicephalus sanguineus) that collected from dogs contained the ospA gene, while none of human blood samples was positive by PCR. None of the investigated samples give positive results for B. burgdorferi by culture.
Conclusions: This study confirms the occurrence of B. burgdorferi infection in Egyptian dogs in which the only identified tick species is Rhipicephalus sanguineus.
