Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026
Evaluation of a Universal Nested Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Detection of Lyssaviruses
Published on: May 2, 2019
Serological evidence of louse-borne relapsing fever in northern Kenya
Flavia Reyer1, Martyna Olesiuk1, Florian Röttgerding2
1Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
Background:
Tick- and louse-borne relapsing fever are highly-neglected, vector-borne diseases caused by diverse Borrelia species. Presently, there are no data available on the endemicity of tick- and louse-borne relapsing fever spirochetes in Kenya. Here, we present data of a retrospective study on the seroprevalence of louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) in northern Kenya.
Methods:
A novel immunoassay, recently established for the diagnosis of LBRF was utilized to screen 2005 blood samples collected from individuals with fever without a source in Turkana County, Kenya between May 2009 and November 2010 for anti-LBRF antibodies.
Results:
Out of the 2005 sera analyzed, 287 samples (14.3 %) were considered anti-LBRF IgG positive. Subsequent analyses revealed that 87 out of 152 sera randomly selected from these 2005 samples were tested positive (57.2 %) for anti-LBRF IgM antibodies. Most of the IgG and IgM positive samples were from individuals living in northern regions of Turkana County.
Conclusion:
Our serological finding provides strong evidence for the occurrence of LBRF in Kenya.
