CLINICAL FINDINGS FOR PATIENTS WITH LYME BORRELIOSIS CAUSED BY BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI SENSU-LATO WITH GENOTYPIC AND PHENOTYPIC SIMILARITIES TO STRAIN-25015

In the course of performing culture isolation of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu late for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis in Slovenia, we encou ntered nine patients who were infected with atypical strains, Molecula r analyses of these strains suggested that they were more closely rela ted to the North American tick isolate, strain 25015 (which belongs to the DN127 genomic group of B. burgdorferi sensu lato), than they were to the three species (B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia garinii, and Borrelia afzelii) hitherto found to be associated with European L yme borreliosis, Review of the case histories of these patients reveal ed some atypical clinical features and variability in clinical present ation, In this study, we present the clinical findings for these patie nts and discuss their significance for the diagnosis of Lyme borrelios is. The DN127 genomic group shares with B. burgdorferi sensu stricto t he distinction of being present in both the Old and New Worlds.