= Willy Burgdorfer
{c}
<Willy Burgdorfer> investigated tick-borne <infectious diseases>. In 1982 he and collaborators reported a <spirochaete> isolated from ticks associated with <Lyme disease>. Infected ticks produced persistent skin lesions in rabbits, and patients' <blood serum> contained <antibodies> reacting with the organism in indirect <immunofluorescence> tests.<Lyme disease: a tick-borne spirochetosis? by Willy Burgdorfer and others>[Abstract, Science 216, 1317–1319]{ref}
These were complementary observations: finding an organism in a suspected vector, observing an effect after feeding, and detecting a human immune response each supplied a different link in the causal argument. The original report cautiously proposed involvement in <Lyme disease>; it did not rest its conclusion solely on resemblance under a <microscope>.
Back to article page