Gern, Lise

1999, Zhioua, Elyes, Bouattour, Ali, Hu, Chang Min, Gharbi, Mohamed, Aeschliman, Andre, Ginsberg, Howard S, Gern, Lise

Free-living adult Ixodes ricinus. were collected in Amdoun, situated in the Kroumiry mountains in northwestern Tunisia (North Africa). Using direct fluorescence antibody assay, the infection rate of field-collected I. ricinus bq Borrelia burgdorferi sensu late was 30.5% (n = 72). No difference in infection rate was observed between male and female ticks. Spirochetes that had been isolated from I. ricinus from Ain Drahim (Kroumiry Mountains) in 1988 were identified as Borrelia lusitaniae (formerly genospecies PotiB2). This is the first identification of a genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato from the continent of Africa.