Borrelia recurrentis

{{Short description|Species of bacterium}}

{{Speciesbox

|image= Borrelia recurrentis CDC.png

|image_caption = Photomicrographic view of a culture specimen showing Borrelia recurrentis bacteria

|genus = Borrelia

|species = recurrentis

|authority = (Lebert, 1874) Bergey et al., 1925

}}

Borrelia recurrentis is a species of Borrelia, a spirochaete bacterium associated with relapsing fever.{{cite journal |vauthors=Cutler SJ, Moss J, Fukunaga M, Wright DJ, Fekade D, Warrell D |title=Borrelia recurrentis characterization and comparison with relapsing-fever, Lyme-associated, and other Borrelia spp |journal=International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=958–68 |date=October 1997 |pmid=9336893 |doi=10.1099/00207713-47-4-958 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Meri T, Cutler SJ, Blom AM, Meri S, Jokiranta TS |title=Relapsing fever spirochetes Borrelia recurrentis and B. duttonii acquire complement regulators C4b-binding protein and factor H |journal=Infection and Immunity |volume=74 |issue=7 |pages=4157–63 |date=July 2006 |pmid=16790790 |pmc=1489703 |doi=10.1128/IAI.00007-06 }} B. recurrentis is usually transmitted from person to person by the human body louse.{{cite book |author1=Madigan, Michael T. |author2=Martinko, John M. |title=Brock biology of microorganisms |publisher=Pearson Prentice Hall |location=Upper Saddle River, NJ |year=2006 |pages=410 |isbn=0-13-144329-1 }} Since the 1800s, the body louse has been known as its only known vector.{{cite journal | last1 = Boutellis | first1 = A | last2 = Mediannikov | first2 = O | last3 = Bilcha | first3 = KD | last4 = Ali | first4 = J | last5 = Campelo | first5 = D | last6 = Barker | first6 = SC | display-authors = etal | year = 2013| title = Borrelia recurrentis in head lice, Ethiopia | journal = Emerg Infect Dis | volume = 19| issue = 5| pages = 796–798| doi = 10.3201/eid1905.121480 | pmid = 23648147 | pmc = 3647509 }}

B. recurrentis DNA was found in 23% of head lice from patients with louse-borne relapsing fever in Ethiopia. Whether head lice can transmit these bacteria from one person to another remains to be determined.

It is notable for its ability to alter the proteins expressed on its surface, which causes the "relapsing" characteristic of relapsing fever.{{cite book |author1=Fisher, Bruce |author2=Harvey, Richard P. |author3=Strohl, William A. |author4=Champe, Pamela C. |title=Lippincott's Illustrated reviews, microbiology |url=https://archive.org/details/microbiologylipp00harv |url-access=limited |publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins |location=Hagerstwon, MD |year=2007 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/microbiologylipp00harv/page/n177 166] |isbn=978-0-7817-8215-9 }}