Article

Serological remarks of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. infection in Upper Silesia inhabitants

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Abstract

Introduction: Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. is a tick-transmitted spirochaete, which can cause acute or chronic infection, either symptomatic or occult. The result depends on spirochaete species' interaction with individual human immunity. Material and methods: The survey was conducted in the group of 1104 Silesia inhabitants (age 3-96 years; mean 44.9 ± 19.2) who remembered tick-bite episode in the past and had not had recognized chronic borreliosis. The anamnestic data were focused on erythema episode and confirmation of erythema migrans by physician. The analysis of an-Borrelia IgM and IgG antibodies in serum with ELISA method, and verification of positive or uncertain results with Western blot analysis were conducted. Results: Erythema after tick-bite exposition was noticed in 22.5%; 70% of them realized medical consultation and erythema migrans was confirmed in 3/4 of cases. Twenty-five percent of those without erythema asked for medical help and early borreliosis was diagnosed in 4.2% of them. In the group of patients with erythema migrans confirmed in the past 55% had positive ELISA tests results while in the group with exclusion - over 40%. Coincidence of results obtained with ELISA and Western blot methods expressed by Kendall's τ coefficient was low: 0.256. Conclusions: In persons with tick-bites in anamnesis and none of chronic borreliosis diagnosed the serological tests positive results seems to be not enough for disease confirmation. Because of low ELISA and Western blot tests results compatibility, the final diagnosis should be based on perceptive analysis of individual clinical picture.

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... The heterogeneity of B. burgdorferi isolates had important implications on understanding the epidemiology and the clinical diversity of symptoms of borreliosis. Undoubtedly, data concerning the rate and occurrence of genospecies of B. burgdorferi s.l. in ticks are useful, but there is a paucity of well estimated data correlated with the number of human cases of this most common tick-borne disease in Poland (Bilski 2009;Grygorczyk et al. 2013;Kubiak et al. 2012;Zalewska-Ziob et al. 2012). In the study conducted in north-eastern Poland by Kubiak et al. (2012) on patients diagnosed with borreliosis by immunoblot, bands corresponding with antibodies reacting with antigens of B. burgdorferi s.s. were the most frequent. ...
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