Borrelia sp. phylogenetically different from Lyme disease- and relapsing fever-related Borrelia spp. in Amblyomma varanense from Python reticulatus

Background: species of the genus borrelia are causative agents of lyme disease and relapsing fever. lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease in the northern hemisphere. however,in some parts of the world lyme borreliosis and relapsing fever may be caused by novel borrelia genotypes. herein,we report the presence of a borrelia sp. in an amblyomma varanense collected from python reticulatus. methods: ticks were collected from snakes,identified to species level and examined by pcr for the presence of borrelia spp. flab and 16s rrna genes. phylogenetic trees were constructed using the neighbour-joining method. results: three a. varanense ticks collected from p. reticulatus were positive for a unique borrelia sp.,which was phylogenetically divergent from both lyme disease- and relapsing fever-associated borrelia spp. conclusion: the results of this study suggest for the first time that there is a borrelia sp. in a. varanense tick in the snake p. reticulatus that might be novel. © 2016 the author(s).