= Borrelia
{c}
<Borrelia> is a name for a group of elongated, helically shaped <bacteria> called <spirochaetes>. Different members are associated with different <arthropod>–<vertebrate> transmission cycles, including agents of Lyme disease and relapsing fever. A genus-level description must therefore distinguish the shared cellular form from the ecology and effects of particular <species>.
A landmark investigation found spirochaetes in ticks associated with <Lyme disease> and detected <antibodies> reacting with the agent in patients' serum. <Lyme disease: a tick-borne spirochetosis? by Willy Burgdorfer and others>[1982, abstract: tick-associated spirochaete, rabbit observations and indirect immunofluorescence of patient serum]{ref} The converging observations linked a candidate organism, a <vector> and human <infection>. Recognizing a spirochaete's shape alone would not have established that causal connection.
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