Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Louse-borne relapsing fever in a refugee from Mali

  • Case Report
  • Published:
Infection Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Due to the increasing number of refugees from East Africa, louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) has become an emergent disease in Europe. No single case of LBRF has been reported in Europe in refugees from other parts of Africa.

Case report

We report a case of LBRF in a refugee from Mali, likely acquired in Libya, where several migration routes into Europe meet. The disease must be considered in any febrile refugee regardless the country of origin.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Brown V, Larouze B, Desve G, Rousset JJ, Thibon M, Fourrier A, Schwoebel V. Clinical presentation of louse-borne relapsing fever among Ethiopian refugees in Northern Somalia. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1988;82:499–502.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cutler SJ. Relapsing fever borreliae: a global review. Clin Lab Med. 2015;35:847–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Cutler SJ. Refugee crisis and re-emergence of forgotten infections in Europe. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2016;22:8–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Louse-borne relapsing fever in the EU. Rapid Risk Assessment. ECDC, Stockholm, 2015. http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/louse-borne-relapsing-fever-in-eu-rapid-risk-assessment-17-nov-15.pdf

  5. Antinori S, Mediannikov O, Corbellino M, Grande R, Parravicini C, Bestetti G, et al. Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis) in a Somali refugee arriving in Italy: a re-emerging infection in Europe? PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016;10:e0004522.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Hoch M, Wieser A, Löscher T, Margos G, Pürner F, Zühl J, et al. Louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis) diagnosed in 15 refugees from Northeast Africa: epidemiology and preventive control measures, Bavaria, Germany, July–October 2015. Eur Surveill. 2015;20:30046.

  7. Lucchini A, Lipani F, Costa C, Scarvaglieri M, Balbiano R, Carosella S, et al. Louseborne relapsing fever among East African refugees, Italy 2015. Emerg Infect Dis. 2016;22:298–301.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Ciervo A, Mancini F, Di Bernardo F, Giammanco A, Vitale G, Dones P, et al. Louseborne relapsing fever in young migrants, Sicily, Italy, July–September 2015. Emerg Infect Dis. 2016;22:152–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Colomba C, Scarlata F, Di Carlo P, Giammanco A, Fasciana T, Trizzino M, et al. Fourth case of louse-borne relapsing fever in young migrant, Sicily, Italy, December 2015. Mini review article. Public Health. 2016;139:22–6.

  10. Bäckman A, Lantz P, Rådström P, Olcén P. Evaluation of an extended diagnostic PCR assay for detection and verification of the common causes of bacterial meningitis in CSF and other biological samples. Mol Cell Probes. 1999;13:49–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dworkin MS, Anderson DE Jr, Schwan TG, et al. Tick-borne relapsing fever in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. Clin Infect Dis. 1998;26:122.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cecilia Grecchi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Grecchi, C., Zanotti, P., Pontarelli, A. et al. Louse-borne relapsing fever in a refugee from Mali. Infection 45, 373–376 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-017-0987-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-017-0987-2

Keywords

Navigation