Compositions and methods for detecting Borrelia afzelii

A method of detecting the presence of Borrelia afzelii in a biological sample, comprising:

• (a) mixing
• (i) DNA extracted from said biological sample,
• (ii) a primer pair comprising a forward primer and a reverse primer that target a p24 gene of Borrelia afzelii, and
• (iii) a hybridization probe, in a PCR vessel, wherein said hybridization probe comprises a fluorescent moiety;
• (b) amplifying said mixture of step (a), in a real-time PCR reaction, under conditions to allow production of an amplicon;
• and
• (c) detecting a presence or absence of Borrelia afzelii, by detecting a presence or absence of a fluorescent signal resulting from the formation of said amplicon,
• wherein the presence of a fluorescent signal is indicative of the presence of Borrelia afzelii,
• wherein said forward primer consists of nucleotide sequence 379-401 set forth in SEQ ID NO:
• 1, said reverse primer consists of nucleotide sequence 103-126 set forth in SEQ ID NO:
• 2, and said hybridization probe consists of nucleotide sequence 134-163 of SEQ ID NO:
• 2.