ArticleJournal of clinical microbiology2013
Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi nucleic acids after antibiotic treatment does not confirm viability.
Article in Journal of clinical microbiology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cutaneous Lyme borreliosis: Guideline of the German Dermatology Society.German medical science : GMS e-journal · 2025Guideline
- Cutaneous Lyme borreliosis: Guideline of the German Dermatology Society.German medical science : GMS e-journal · 2017Guideline
- Article
- Use of Tick Cell Lines in Co-Infection Studies with a Preliminary Study of Co-Culture ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- Lyme borreliosis diagnosis: state of the art of improvements and innovations.BMC microbiology · 2023Review
- Lyme disease and the pursuit of a clinical cure.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Review
- Persistent Borrelia burgdorferiClinical microbiology reviews · 2022Review
- Review
- Laboratory Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2021Review
- Specific composition of polyphenolic compounds with fatty acids as an approach in helping to reduce spirochete burden in Lyme disease:Therapeutic advances in chronic disease · 2020Article
- Generality of Post-Antimicrobial Treatment Persistence ofInfection and immunity · 2019Article
- Molecular Testing of Serial Blood Specimens from Patients with Early Lyme Disease during Treatment Reveals Changing Coinfection with Mixtures of Borrelia burgdorferi Genotypes.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2019Article
- Critical analysis of a doxycycline treatment trial of rhesus macaques infected with Borrelia burgdorferi.Diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease · 2018Article
- Sleeper cells: the stringent response and persistence in the Borreliella (Borrelia) burgdorferi enzootic cycle.Environmental microbiology · 2017Review
- Borrelia burgdorferi induces a type I interferon response during early stages of disseminated infection in mice.BMC microbiology · 2016Article
- A Highly Expressed Human Protein, Apolipoprotein B-100, Serves as an Autoantigen in a Subgroup of Patients With Lyme Disease.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2015Article
- Quantification of Borrelia burgdorferi Membrane Proteins in Human Serum: A New Concept for Detection of Bacterial Infection.Analytical chemistry · 2015Article
- Persister Development by Borrelia burgdorferi Populations In Vitro.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2015Article
- Borrelia burgdorferi, the Causative Agent of Lyme Disease, Forms Drug-Tolerant Persister Cells.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The persistence of dormant, noncultivable Borrelia burgdorferi after ceftriaxone treatment was examined. B. burgdorferi isolates were cultivated in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly medium in the presence or absence of ceftriaxone, and cultures were monitored for up to 56 days. Viability of B. burgdorferi was assessed by subculture, growth, morphology, and pH (as a surrogate for metabolic activity). In addition, the presence of B. burgdorferi DNA and mRNA was assayed by PCR and by real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, respectively. Spirochetes could not be successfully subcultured by day 3 after exposure to ceftriaxone. In cultures treated with ceftriaxone, the pH of the culture medium did not change through day 56, whereas it declined by at least 1 pH unit by 14 days in untreated cultures. These results suggest that B. burgdorferi viability is rapidly eliminated after antibiotic treatment. Nevertheless, DNA was detected by B. burgdorferi-specific PCR for up to 56 days in aliquots from both ceftriaxone-treated and untreated cultures. In addition, although ceftriaxone treatment resulted in a reduction in the quantities of transcript for ospC, ospA, flaB, and pfk, certain mRNAs could be detected through day 14. Transcript for all 4 genes was essentially undetectable after 28 days of treatment. Taken together, the results suggest that B. burgdorferi DNA and mRNA can be detected in samples long after spirochetes are no longer viable as assessed by classic microbiological parameters. PCR positivity in the absence of culture positivity following antibiotic treatment in animal and human studies should be interpreted with caution.
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Registered trials
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