Detection and isolation of relapsing fever spirochete, <i>Borrelia miyamotoi</i>, from <i>Ixodes ricinus</i> collected in the Czech Republic: separation of relapsing fever and Lyme disease spirochetes by cultivation on solid medium

Abstract

In this bachelor thesis, the focus of the study was on a newly discovered tick-born pathogen named <i>Borrelia miyamotoi</i>, which belongs to the relapsing fever group and is transferred by the same <i>Ixodes</i> species that transmit Lyme disease spirochetes. Very little is still known about the cultivation of <i>B. miyamotoi</i> in-vitro, whereas it is of great importance since detailed characterization of the pathogen is necessary. Therefore, the interest of developing successful solid or liquid media for <i>B. miyamotoi</i> in-vitro cultivation is steadily increasing. The aim of this thesis was to detect the presence of pathogenic for humans <i>Borrelia miyamotoi</i> in hard ticks collected from different areas of the Czech Republic and to obtain a monoclonal population of <i>B. miyamotoi</i>, while separating co-infected cultures on plates with solid medium.