Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent

ABSTRACT A detailed first-hand account of the events leading up to the discovery of the Lyme disease agent has been lacking. Nearly 40 years have elapsed since the discovery of the organism that was named Borrelia burgdorferi. There are thousands of articles in the scientific and medical literature...

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Autores principales:	Alan G. Barbour, Jorge L. Benach
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2019
Materias:	Lyme disease Borrelia Ixodes Rickettsia Babesia Stony Brook University Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6f1b06a2469c43cea35145246ba8a48c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6f1b06a2469c43cea35145246ba8a48c2021-11-15T15:59:42ZDiscovery of the Lyme Disease Agent10.1128/mBio.02166-192150-7511https://doaj.org/article/6f1b06a2469c43cea35145246ba8a48c2019-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mBio.02166-19https://doaj.org/toc/2150-7511ABSTRACT A detailed first-hand account of the events leading up to the discovery of the Lyme disease agent has been lacking. Nearly 40 years have elapsed since the discovery of the organism that was named Borrelia burgdorferi. There are thousands of articles in the scientific and medical literature on this organism and the disease that it causes. In the interval since the organism’s discovery, however, misconceptions have arisen regarding not only the disease but the discovery itself. Accordingly, with this paper, we aim to fill in the details of this episode in medical history with a joint introduction, first-person accounts by the two authors, a summary of contemporaneous events, and concluding comments. The history of the discovery of the Lyme disease agent has threads originating in different places in the United States. Studies on Long Island, NY, provided the epidemiological thread of studies on rickettsial diseases and babesiosis, linking the latter with the cutaneous manifestation of Lyme disease, now known as erythema migrans. The Long Island thread intersected Montana’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories thread of studies on a relapsing fever Borrelia and its cultivation and expertise in vector biology. This intersection made possible the discovery of the spirochete and its recovery from patients. This paper stresses that what may seem to have been an individual scientific discovery is actually the product of several threads coming together and is attributable to more people than appreciated.Alan G. BarbourJorge L. BenachAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleLyme diseaseBorreliaIxodesRickettsiaBabesiaStony Brook UniversityMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmBio, Vol 10, Iss 5 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Lyme disease Borrelia Ixodes Rickettsia Babesia Stony Brook University Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	Lyme disease Borrelia Ixodes Rickettsia Babesia Stony Brook University Microbiology QR1-502 Alan G. Barbour Jorge L. Benach Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
description	ABSTRACT A detailed first-hand account of the events leading up to the discovery of the Lyme disease agent has been lacking. Nearly 40 years have elapsed since the discovery of the organism that was named Borrelia burgdorferi. There are thousands of articles in the scientific and medical literature on this organism and the disease that it causes. In the interval since the organism’s discovery, however, misconceptions have arisen regarding not only the disease but the discovery itself. Accordingly, with this paper, we aim to fill in the details of this episode in medical history with a joint introduction, first-person accounts by the two authors, a summary of contemporaneous events, and concluding comments. The history of the discovery of the Lyme disease agent has threads originating in different places in the United States. Studies on Long Island, NY, provided the epidemiological thread of studies on rickettsial diseases and babesiosis, linking the latter with the cutaneous manifestation of Lyme disease, now known as erythema migrans. The Long Island thread intersected Montana’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories thread of studies on a relapsing fever Borrelia and its cultivation and expertise in vector biology. This intersection made possible the discovery of the spirochete and its recovery from patients. This paper stresses that what may seem to have been an individual scientific discovery is actually the product of several threads coming together and is attributable to more people than appreciated.
format	article
author	Alan G. Barbour Jorge L. Benach
author_facet	Alan G. Barbour Jorge L. Benach
author_sort	Alan G. Barbour
title	Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
title_short	Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
title_full	Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
title_fullStr	Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
title_full_unstemmed	Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent
title_sort	discovery of the lyme disease agent
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/6f1b06a2469c43cea35145246ba8a48c
work_keys_str_mv	AT alangbarbour discoveryofthelymediseaseagent AT jorgelbenach discoveryofthelymediseaseagent
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Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent

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