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Infection and Immunity, January 1999, p. 36-42, Vol. 67, No. 1
Center for Comparative Medicine, Schools of
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis,
California 95616
Received 27 July 1998/Returned for modification 16 September
1998/Accepted 15 October 1998
The specificity of infection-induced immunity in mice infected with
cultured or host-adapted Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, the agent of Lyme disease, was examined. Sera obtained from mice following infection with high and low doses of cultured B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, transplantation of infected tissue
(host-adapted spirochetes), or tick-borne inoculation all showed
protective activity in passive immunization assays. Infection and
disease were similar in mice infected with cultured spirochetes or by transplantation. Thus, the adaptive form of inoculated spirochetes did
not influence the immune response during active infection. Mice
infected with B. burgdorferi sensu stricto and then cured of infection with an antibiotic during early or late stages of infection were resistant to challenge with high doses of homologous cultured spirochetes for up to 1 year. In contrast, actively immune mice infected with different Borrelia species (B. burgdorferi sensu lato, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto
cN40, Borrelia afzelii PKo, and Borrelia
garinii PBi) and then treated with an antibiotic were resistant
to challenge with cultured homologous but not heterologous spirochetes.
Similar results were achieved for actively immune mice challenged by
transplantation and by passive immunization with sera from mice
infected with each of the Borrelia species and then
challenged with cultured spirochetes. Arthritis and carditis in mice
that had immunizing infections with B. afzelii and B. garinii and then challenged by transplantation with B. burgdorferi sensu stricto were equivalent in prevalence and
severity to those in nonimmune recipient mice. These results indicate
that protective immunity and disease-modulating immunity that develop
during active infection are universal among species related to B. burgdorferi sensu lato but are species specific.
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Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Specificity of Infection-Induced Immunity among
Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato Species
*
Mailing address: Center for Comparative Medicine,
Schools of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of
California, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530) 752-7913. Fax: (530)
752-7914. E-mail: swbarthold{at}ucdavis.edu.
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