Borrelia burgdorferi Infections in the United States

It is becoming increasingly evident that the clinical presentation of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi varies greatly between different parts of the world. A growing number of European and Asian isolates of Lyme borreliae, differing from the American strain of Borrelia burgdorferi, have been identified in several different disorders. In light of the increasing number of reports describing an association between various cutaneous disorders and infection with Borrelia burgdorferi and the controversy that still remains over where Borrelia burgdorferi is truly pathogenic in these diseases, this review of the literature assesses the significance of these reports in substantiating these hypotheses, as such associations are important both diagnostically and therapeutically.