Lyme disease: Recent advances and perspectives

Abstract

Lyme Disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and transmitted by Ixodes scapularis (deer tick or blacklegged tick), has been gaining in incidence over the past decade. Without treatment, it is a long-term infection characterized by inflammation of the joints, heart and nervous system. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies it as an Emerging Infectious Disease with an expanding geographical area of occurrence and have recently revised their incidence cases in the United States by 10 fold. In this Lyme Disease Research Topic we have gathered reviews and original research in the fields of microbiology and immunology of B. burgdorferi infection. Included in this Topic are the abstracts from the 13th International Congress on Lyme Borreliosis and we thank the organizers Dr. Linda Bockenstedt and Dr. Linden Hu for publishing them in this issue at the following link.