Molecular evidence of the dispersal of Lyme disease Borrelia from the Asian Continent to Japan via migratory birds.

Based on specific sequencing, we found that a Borrelia garinii strain from a rodent in Fukui Prefecture, Japan was highly similar to the unique Borrelia strains (pattern R'/R) isolated in northeastern China and Korea, and to strains from ticks feeding on migratory birds in Fukui Prefecture. These findings indicate that the Borrelia with this unique pattern may be locally naturalized to the epizootic transmission cycle in Japan, and that Borrelia is dispersed from the Asian Continent to Japan via migratory birds.