The Current State of Knowledge on Baggio–Yoshinari Syndrome (Brazilian Lyme Disease-like Illness): Chronological Presentation of Historical and Scientific Events Observed over the Last 30 Years

Baggio–Yoshinari Syndrome (BYS) is an emerging Brazilian tick-borne infectious disease that clinically mimics Lyme Disease (LD) present in the Northern Hemisphere. LD is caused by spirochetes belonging to the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex and transmitted by Ixodid ticks of complex Ixodes rticinus. On the contrary, BYS is transmitted by hard Ixodid ticks of the genera Amblyomma, Rhipicephalus and Dermacentor. In 1992, the first cases of BYS were described in patients that developed EM rash, flu-like symptoms and arthritis after tick bite episodes. Since these findings, research in BYS has been developing for more than 30 years and shows that its epidemiological, clinical and laboratorial features are different from LD. Borrelia burgdorferi was never isolated in Brazil. In addition, specific serologic tests have shown little positivity. Furthermore, peripheral blood analysis of patients using electron microscopy exhibited structures resembling spirochete-like microorganisms or the latent forms of spirochetes (L form or cell wall deficient bacteria). For these reasons, Brazilian zoonosis was defined as an exotic and emerging Brazilian infectious disease, transmitted by ticks not belonging to the Ixodes ricinus complex, caused by latent spirochetes belonging to the B. burgdorferi sensu lato complex with atypical morphology. The Brazilian ecosystem, combined with its ticks and reservoir biodiversity, possibly contributed to the origin of this new zoonosis, which emerged as a result of the passage of B. burgdorferi through exotic vectors and reservoirs.