Query: NC_011244:213853 Borrelia recurrentis A1, complete genome Lineage: Borrelia recurrentis; Borrelia; Spirochaetaceae; Spirochaetales; Spirochaetes; Bacteria General Information: Borrelia recurrentis isolated from adult patient with louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia. Borrelia recurrentis is the causative agent of louse-borne relapsing fever. Prior to World War II, this organism was responsible for large disease outbreaks with a mortality of up to 40% in much of the world. Currently this disease is limited to parts of Africa, China, and Peru. B. recurrentis is transmitted when infected human body lice (Pediculus humanus) are crushed and their fluids contaminate mucous membranes or breaks in the skin. Relapsing fever is characterized by a period of chills, fever, headache, and malaise, an asymptomatic period, followed by another episode of symptoms. This cycle of relapsing is due to changes in the surface proteins of Borrelia, which allow it to avoid detection and removal by the host immune system. This antigenic variation is the result of homologous recombination of silent proteins into an expressed locus, causing partial or complete replacement of one serotype with another.
- Sequence; - BLASTN hit (Low score = Light, High score = Dark) - hypothetical protein; - cds: hover for description
General Information: This strain was originally isolated in 1912 from a neurosyphilitic patient and is virulent. This organism is the causative agent of endemic and venereal syphilis. This sexual transmitted disease was first discovered in Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, however, the causative agent was not identified until 1905. At one time syphilis was the third most commonly reported communicable disease in the USA. Syphilis is characterized by multiple clinical stages and long periods of latent, asymptomatic infection. Although effective therapies have been available since the introduction of penicillin, syphilis remains a global health problem. This organisms is divided into subspecies each of which causes a specific disease. T. pallidum causes the venereal disease syphilis. T. pertenue, T. carateum and T. endemicum cause the skin infections yaws, pinta and bejel, respectively.