Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever Caused by Borrelia persica in Traveler to Central Asia, 2019

Abstract

We report a case of tick-borne relapsing fever caused by Borrelia persica in a traveler returning to Switzerland from central Asia. After the disease was diagnosed by blood smear microscopy, the causative Borrelia species was confirmed by shotgun metagenomics sequencing. PCR and sequencing techniques provide highly sensitive diagnostic tools superior to microscopy.

Keywords

• Tick-borne relapsing fever
• Borrelia persica
• central Asia
• Borrelia species
• shotgun metagenomics
• microscopy