Relapsing fever revisited: New insights into neglected borrelial infections
- 1Infection & Immunity Research Group, School of Health, Sport & Bioscience, University of East London, London, United Kingdom
Abstract
Why revisit our understanding of relapsing fever and their causative spirochaetes? We have seen many existing paradigms of relapsing fever borreliosis challenged over recent years, largely facilitated through technological molecular biological improvements. Concepts that were believed for many years are now being questioned; from the origins of B. recurrentis, the epidemic form of relapsing fever, through to the one-tick-one Borrelia model. Furthermore, the description of relapsing fever borreliae such as B. miyamotoi transmitted by hard tick species and increasing reports of new borrelial species have prompted a re-evaluation of existing knowledge. Within this narrative review, we overview existing knowledge of relapsing fever ecology, epidemiology, diagnostics, disease and prevention, and explore several research gaps worthy of further research.
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BibTeX
@article{cutler2026relapsing,
title = {{Relapsing fever revisited: New insights into neglected borrelial infections}},
author = {Sally J. Cutler},
journal = {PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pntd.0014737},
url = {https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014737},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Relapsing fever revisited: New insights into neglected borrelial infections
AU - Sally J. Cutler
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
JO - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
DO - 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014737
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0014737
AB - Why revisit our understanding of relapsing fever and their causative spirochaetes? We have seen many existing paradigms of relapsing fever borreliosis challenged over recent years, largely facilitated through technological molecular biological improvements. Concepts that were believed for many years are now being questioned; from the origins of B. recurrentis, the epidemic form of relapsing fever, through to the one-tick-one Borrelia model. Furthermore, the description of relapsing fever borreliae such as B. miyamotoi transmitted by hard tick species and increasing reports of new borrelial species have prompted a re-evaluation of existing knowledge. Within this narrative review, we overview existing knowledge of relapsing fever ecology, epidemiology, diagnostics, disease and prevention, and explore several research gaps worthy of further research.
SN - 1935-2735
ER -