Minnesota Scientists Discover New Lyme Disease-Causing Bacteria

The discovery was revealed to the public on Monday, February 8, in a news release issued by Mayo Clinic experts, and representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new species, provisionally named Borrelia mayonii, is related to a strain called Borrelia burgdorferi which has always been linked to the disease.

Researchers discovered Borrelia mayonii after studying blood samples of patients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota who were suspected of having Lyme disease from 2012-2014, the CDC said.

It is too early to say whether the newly discovered bacteria will be more or less risky than Borrelia burgdorferi, said Jeannine Petersen, a CDC microbiologist.

However, the rash caused by the newly discovered bacteria does not cause the typical “bull’s-eye” mark but rather it looks like it spreads out more.

Commonly caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, Lyme disease is characterized by symptoms such as rash, neck pain and fever.

Researchers believe humans can get Borrelia mayonii by the bite of a deer tick.

But the second bacteria causes slightly different symptoms and seems to be found only in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the researchers report in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The older bacterial species is typically found in 30 to 40 percent of black-legged ticks, says Pritt.

But Borrelia mayonii adds nausea, vomiting and widespread rash, and causes a higher concentration of bacteria in the blood, the CDC said. This will help in future investigations, diagnostics and treatment options for Lyme disease cases and how it has spread rapidly across states. “The new species was not identified in any of the approximately 25,000 blood samples from residents of 43 other states with suspected tick-borne disease taken during the same period, including states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region where Lyme disease is common”.

Patients infected with B. mayonii will test positive for Lyme disease with now available U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared Lyme disease tests.

“Lots of people are encountering ticks where they didn’t encounter them 20 years ago”, says Rebecca Eisen, a research biologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who published the latest map of tick populations in the U.S. CDC recommends that health care providers who treat people infected with B. mayonii follow the antibiotic regimen described by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. CDC is working closely with health officials from the three states to shed light on the understanding of the disease.

More tests showed it was a ralted species of bacteria causing the infection.

Pritt said of the new Lyme infection, “As far as we know, it’s emerging, but we can’t say for sure it wasn’t here before”. People catch the infection from tick bites.