Borrelia-like spirochetes recovered from ticks and small mammals collectedin the Atlantic Forest Reserve, Cotia County, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Forty-four marsupials, 77 rodents and 161 ticks were captured in an Atlanti c Forest Reserve in Cotia country, State of Sao Paulo, where human cases of Lyme disease (LD) simile were reported. Twenty-one borrelia-like spirochet e isolates were recovered from the mammals' blood and rodent livers or sple ens, and triturated tick inoculated into BSK II medium. Our results suggest that the reservoirs and ricks collected may harbor borrelia-like spirochet es, some of which have an antigenic similarity with the unknown causative a gent of LD simile in Brazil, and/or with North American Borrelia burgdorfer i s.s.