Expanded Study Confirms that Lyme Disease May Be Sexually Transmitted
December 19, 2014
"Our findings will change the way Lyme disease is viewed by doctors and patients," said Marianne Middelveen, lead author of the published study. "It explains why the disease is more common than one would think if only ticks were involved in transmission."
As expected, all of the control subjects tested negative for Borrelia burgdorferi in cultures of semen samples or vaginal secretions. In contrast, twelve of thirteen patients with Lyme disease had positive cultures for Borrelia burgdorferi in their genital secretions. Furthermore, two of the couples with Lyme disease showed identical strains of the Lyme spirochete in their semen and vaginal secretions, while a third couple showed identical strains of a related Borrelia spirochete in their genital secretions.
"The presence of live spirochetes in genital secretions and identical strains in sexually active couples strongly suggests that sexual transmission of Lyme disease occurs," said Dr. Mayne, who recently published the first comprehensive study of Lyme disease in Australia. "We need to do more research to determine the risk of sexual transmission of this syphilis-like organism."
Dr. Stricker pointed to the implications for Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment raised by the study. "We have taken Lyme disease out of the woods and into the bedroom," he said. "We need to start fighting this runaway epidemic just like HIV/AIDS."
Lees meer Bron: DigitalJournal
Culture and identification of Borrelia spirochetes in human vaginal and seminal secretions
Marianne J. Middelveen, Jennie Burke, Eva Sapi, Cheryl Bandoski, Katherine R. Filush, Yean Wang, Agustin Franco, Arun Timmaraju, Hilary A. Schlinger, Peter J. Mayne, Raphael B. Stricker
F1000Research 2014, 3:309 doi: 10.12688/f1000research.5778.1
Published: 18 Dec 2014
Recent reports indicate that more than 300,000 cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed yearly in the USA. Preliminary clinical, epidemiological and immunological studies suggest that infection with the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) could be transferred from person to person via intimate human contact without a tick vector. Detecting viable Borrelia spirochetes in vaginal and seminal secretions would provide evidence to support this hypothesis.
Conclusions: The culture of viable Borrelia spirochetes in genital secretions suggests that Lyme disease could be transmitted by intimate contact from person to person.
Lees meer Bron: F1000Research
