Abstract
<i>Borrelia burgdorferi</i>, the causal agent of Lyme disease, has been implicated as the causative agent for some types of morphea by serologic (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and Western blot analyses. Furthermore, spirochetal organisms have been found in lesions of morphea and lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA) by histological methods.<sup>1</sup><i>Borrelia burgdorferi</i>also has been reported<sup>2</sup>as the causative agent of morphea and LSA using the polymerase chain reaction technique of DNA amplification. <h3>Methods.</h3> In this study, we analyzed 27 paraffinembedded skin biopsy specimens of patients from south-eastern Texas with morphea (n=13), LSA (n=13), and morphea-LSA overlap (n=1) for B<i>burgdorferi</i>DNA using polymerase chain reaction. Eleven paraffin-embedded biopsy specimens of inflammatory dermatoses and 2 snap-frozen fresh samples of normal skin served as negative controls. DNA samples obtained from B<i>burgdorferi and Borrelia hermsii</i>(American Type Culture Collection, Rockville, Md) at a density of 10 000 spirochetes per milliliter (determined
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
