Burgdorferi Research Paper

Introduction Over thousands of microorganisms discovered cause human diseases. One of the infectious microorganisms is the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which belongs to the genus Borrelia and family Spirochaetaceae. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), B. burgdorferi was first isolated in 1982 by a zoologist and microbiologist Willy Burgdorfer, Ph.D., thus the name burgdorferi. Lyme disease, which is caused by the bacterium B. burgdorferi, was first recognized in 1977 when an unusually large numbers of children were being diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in Lyme, Connecticut (NIH 2008). Having a deeper knowledge of the causal agent, epidemiology, transmission, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and control measures of this particular microorganism help people have a better understanding how this microorganism causes human disease and the effects it may cause to humans, if not prevented and treated.
Causal Agent …show more content…
burgdorferi is a gram-negative bacteria that belongs to the genus Borrelia and family Spirochaetaceae. It has a distinctive morphology of spirochete or spiral or wavelike body and periplasmic flagella enclosed within a periplasmic space of the cell found between the peptidoglycan layer and the outer membrane. The periplasmic flagella allow the backward moving of the bacterium that enables it to swim in both low and high viscosity media. Furthermore, B. burgdorferi is what causes Lyme disease, which is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks (CDC 2014). If infected and left untreated, a person may experience fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans (CDC