BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI AND THE MACROPHAGE - ROUTINE ANNIHILATION BUT OCCASIONAL HAVEN

Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent for Lyme disease, has a typical patter n of bacterial interaction with phagocytes: attachment stimulation of release of inflammatory mediators and, in most cases, ingestion and ki lling Spirochetes ore killed extracellularly by antibody plus compleme nt via the classical pathway, as well os by phagocytes through apparen tly nonoxidative means. Yet rare persistent spirochetes (mutants?) hav e been identified both in patients' tissues and in cells grown in vitr o. Ruth Montgomery and Stephen Malawista here ask are some Borrelia wo lves in sheeps' clothing evading macrophage anti-microbial action?