Talk:Relapsing fever

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[edit] Merge with Lyme disease?

I'm withdrawing my earlier suggestion to merge Relapsing Fever with Lyme disease. Unlike I thought before, they turn out to be two distinct diseases. I cannot seem to find out what the difference is, though.
—Herbee 16:59, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

They are related, as they both result from infection with spirochetes from the genus Borrelia, giving them some shared features (eg. antigenic variation as an immune evasion mechanism). However these are different Borrelia species transmitted by different tick vectors - Lyme is transmitted by hard Ixodes ticks, and tick borne relapsing fever (TBRF) is transmitted by soft Ornithodoros ticks. (There is yet another relapsing fever species transmitted by body lice.) Symptoms also differ to some extent, with cycles of fever and chills occurring in relapsing fever. You'll find a detailed comparison of Lyme and TBRF here. --Bapb 18:34, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
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