We report a case of louse-borne relapsing fever (LBRF) in a refugee from Somalia who had arrived in Belgium a few days earlier. He complained of myalgia and secondarily presented fever. Blood smears revealed spirochetes later identified as Borrelia recurrentis. LBRF should be considered in countries hosting refugees, particularly those who transit through endemic regions. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2016. All rights reserved.

Spirochetes Louse-borne relapsing fever Borrelia recurrentis Refugee

Sanger sequencing antigen louse refugee DNA extraction Heart Rate alanine aminotransferase hospital discharge gene amplification human Borrelia recurrentis Refugees arthralgia Borrelia Infections travel Relapsing Fever bacterial DNA Borrelia louse borne relapsing fever Animals relapse doxycycline animal laboratory test Young Adult DNA, Bacterial Humans treatment duration anemia myalgia male case report unclassified drug Belgium penicillin G Borrelia infection isolation and purification Article blood parasite antigen Plasmodium vivax adult fever aspartate aminotransferase serology C reactive protein gene sequence Somalia Plasmodium falciparum hemoglobin Italy antiinfective agent Anti-Bacterial Agents systolic blood pressure diastolic blood pressure spirochete limb pain RNA 16S malaria antigen immunoglobulin M thrombocytopenia