Transmission
of Borrelia burgdorferi by Blood
transfusion?
While
babesia has been transferred via bloodtransfusion
in several cases, there has not been any verified case of borreliosis
transferred via blood transfusion, but there is a potential risk as the
spirochete may remain viable and infectious during the normal bank
blood
storage period.
Survival
of Borrelia burgdorferi in blood products.
Badon SJ,
Transfusion 1989 Sep; 29(7): 581-3 PMID: 2773025
The incidence of Lyme disease is rapidly increasing in the
Prevalence
of Erythema migrans Borreliosis in blood
donors.
Schmidt
R, Gollmer E, Zunser
R, Kruger J, Ackermann R.
Infusionstherapie
1989 Dec; 16(6): 248-51 PMID: 2625363
European Erythema migrans Borreliosis and North American Lyme disease
are
closely related to syphilis. This implicates a potential risk of
infection for
blood recipients. Eighty-six of 3,157 blood donors tested showed IgG-antibodies against Borrelia Burgdorferi. From among 47 persons of this group who
could be
examined, clinical signs of diseased skin, joints or nervous system,
not
diagnosed before, were found or could be suspected in 13 cases. Since
intrauterine transmission of Borrelia infection has been described, the
inevitable question of whether this disease can also be transmitted as
a result
of blood transfusion becomes a major concern. As the pathogen can
persist even
in the presence of serum antibodies, it seems advisable to examine
blood donors
serologically, whenever Erythema migrans Borreliosis is suspected.
Though
further research is required to document a transfusion-transmitted
Borrelia
infection, infected persons should be treated to avoid serious or late
manifestations.
Survival
of Borrelia burgdorferi in human blood stored
under blood banking conditions.
Nadelman RB, Sherer
C, Mack L,
Transfusion 1990 May; 30(4): 298-301 PMID: 2349627
Hematogenous
dissemination
of organisms occurs in many spirochetal diseases, including Lyme
disease and
syphilis. Although syphilis has been transmitted by transfusion, in the
vast
majority of cases, only fresh blood products were involved, in part
because Treponema pallidum
survives
poorly when refrigerated in citrated blood. Because of the rising
incidence of
Lyme disease in certain areas, whether its causative agent, Borrelia
burgdorferi, could survive under blood banking conditions was studied.
Dilutions of stock cultures of two strains of B. burgdorferi were
inoculated
into samples of citrated red cells (RBCs). Viable spirochetes were recovered from RBCs inoculated with 10(6) organisms per mL, after refrigeration for as long as 6 weeks.
It is
concluded that B. burgdorferi may survive storage under blood banking
conditions and that transfusion-related Lyme disease is theoretically
possible.
Borrelia
burgdorferi: survival in experimentally infected human blood
processed for transfusion.
Johnson
SE, Swaminathan
B,
J Infect Dis 1990 Aug; 162(2): 557-9 PMID: 2373880
The isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi from
blood
raises the possibility of bloodborne
transmission of
Lyme borreliosis through transfusions. To
assess this
possibility, the ability of B. burgdorferi to survive in human blood
processed
for transfusion was studied. Human blood was inoculated with B.
burgdorferi type
strain B-31 (ATCC 35210) at 0.2, 20, or
2000 viable
cells/ml, processed by conventional blood banking procedures, stored at
4
degrees C, and cultured for B. burgdorferi at 12, 23, 36, and 48 days
of
storage. After processing, most B. burgdorferi were found in the packed
cell
fraction. At inoculum levels of 20 or 2000 viable cells/ml, B.
burgdorferi
survived in processed blood through 48 days of storage at 4 degrees C.
B.
burgdorferi was isolated from packed cells after 36 days of storage at
4
degrees C even when the initial inoculum level was as low as 0.2
cells/ml. The data
demonstrate that B. burgdorferi can
survive the blood processing procedures normally applied to transfused
blood in
the
[Retrospective
study of a borreliosis infected
blood donor]
Weiland T, Kuhnl P, Darda C, Sibrowski W, Pulz
M.
Beitr Infusionsther
1991;
28: 32-4 PMID:
1725647
Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, and
represents a
potential transfusion hazard. Some Borrelia burgdorferi-infected blood
donors
may not be disqualified by standard donor selection procedures, thus
possibly
transmitting the disease. In
a
follow-up of 14 recipients of blood products donated by such a donor,
no
clinical signs or serologic evidence of a transfusion-transmitted borreliosis could be demonstrated.
Screening
of blood donors and recipients for Borrelia
burgdorferi antibodies: no evidence of B. burgdorferi infection
transmitted by
transfusion.
Bohme M, Schwenecke S, Fuchs E, Wiebecke
D, Karch H.
Infusionsther Transfusionsmed 1992 Aug; 19(4): 204-7 PMID: 1422081
In the study presented here, the prevalence of antibodies against
Borrelia
burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme borreliosis,
was determined in a group of blood donors from the Wurzburg area
(Southern
Germany). 13 of 472 donors
(2.7%)
tested were positive by immunoblotting (IB). These 13 donors were
examined in more
detail by physical examination, anamnesis and determination of
inflammation
parameters of the blood. All persons were asymptomatic for Lyme borreliosis. One of 5 who remembered a tick bite
actually
had suffered from an erythema chronicum migrans 5 years ago. Another
one had
been affected by fever, headaches and pain in the limbs, arthralgia
and motoric disorder in both hands 6
months before
examination. Analysis of the blood did not provide any evidence of an
acute
infection. Moreover, each of the 472 serum samples was analyzed by a hemagglutination test (HAT). 26 (5.5%) showed a
positive
test result. In order to investigate whether a seroconversion
of the recipients by transfusion of B. burgdorferi antibody-positive
blood had
taken place, 9 recipients of blood products originating from the 13 IB-positive donors were serologically reexamined.
All samples taken proved to be antibody-negative. Consequently, the
transfusion
did not produce any seroconversion in the
patients
thus treated.
[Prevalence
of Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in
Weiland T, Kuhnl P, Laufs R, Heesemann J.
Beitr Infusionsther
1992;
30: 92-5 PMID:
1284777
One thousand regular blood donors of the Department of Transfusion
Medicine at
the
[Infections
with Borrelia burgdorferi in
Bohme
M, Schembra J, Bocklage
H, Schwenecke S, Fuchs E, Karch
H, Wiebecke D.
Beitr Infusionsther
1992;
30: 96-9 PMID:
1284778
The prevalence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi, the
etiologic agent
of Lyme borreliosis, was determined in a group of blood donors from the
Wurzburg area (Southern Germany). 26
of 472 donors (5.5%) tested positive in a hemagglutination
test. When performing immunoblots
only 13 donors (2.7%) gave rise to B. burgdorferi-specific antibodies. 9 of them were examined in more detail
by
anamnesis, physical examination, determination of inflammation
parameters of
the blood and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
analysis of urine. All persons were asymptomatic for Lyme borreliosis.
One of 4, who remembered a tick bite, actually had
suffered
from an erythema migrans 5 years ago. Another one had been affected by
fever,
headaches and pains in the limbs, arthralgia
and motoric disorder in both hands 6
months before examination.
Analysis of the blood did not provide any evidence of an acute infection. In the urine of 2 donors we detected
B.
burgdorferi-specific DNA by PCR. No seroconversion due to blood transfusion could be
observed,
when 9 recipients of blood products provided by the 13 seropositive
donors were
serologically reexamined. PCR
analysis of urine samples of 5 recipients was also negative.
Transfer of
Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. infection via blood transfusion in a murine
model.
Gabitzsch ES, Piesman J, Dolan MC,
Sykes CM, Zeidner NS.
J Parasitol. 2006 Aug;92(4):869-70.
PMID: 16995409
Without antibiotic treatment,
the Lyme-disease-causing bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi can be
cultured from the peripheral blood of human patients nearly 6 wk
post-tick bite. To determine if Lyme disease spirochetes can be
transmitted from a spirochetemic donor mouse to a naive recipient
during blood transfusion, blood taken from immunocompetent infected
mice was transfused into either immunodeficient (SCID) mice, inbred
immunocompetent animals (C3H/HeJ), or outbred mice. Nine of 19 (47.7%) immunodeficient mice, 7
of 15 (46.8%) inbred immunocompetent mice, and 6 of 10 (60.0%) outbred
mice became infected with B. burgdorferi after transfusion. Our results indicate that it is
possible to acquire B. burgdoferi infection via transfused blood in a
mouse model of Lyme borreliosis.