Controversy exists over the significance and even the existence of post-Lyme disease symptoms because of the high rate of similar background symptoms in the general population. A European, prospective clinical trial in which doxycycline and cefuroxime axetil were compared in the treatment of adult patients with erythema migrans included a control group to address this question. The frequency of nonspecific symptoms in patients did not exceed that of a control group at 6 months and later after enrollment. We advocate inclusion of appropriate non-Lyme disease control groups in future studies.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26384857
Limited data exist on differences of erythema migrans patients with either positive or negative Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato skin culture. Evaluations of epidemiological, clinical, and microbiological findings were conducted in 159 culture positive and 101 skin culture-negative patients treated with standard antibiotics. Although findings for the pretreatment characteristics were comparable between the erythema migrans skin culture-positive and culture-negative patients, some parameters indicate that borrelia skin culture positivity may predict a less-favorable treatment outcome.
COBISS.SI-ID: 27657433
Assessment of the humoral immune response in sera and CSF of patients with early Lyme neuroborreliosis confirmed previous findings on the relationship between the duration of illness and the proportion of patients with detectable responses. Comparison of the findings of two methods for the detection of intrathecally synthesized borrelial antibodies revealed substantial distinctions in sensitivity and specificity.
COBISS.SI-ID: 26730713
Reports on patients with European Lyme borreliosis in whom borreliae were isolated from the blood are rare and nearly exclusively limited to those with solitary or multiple erythema migrans. Our study revealed that borreliae can be cultured from the blood not only early in the course of the disease but also occasionally later during disease progression.
COBISS.SI-ID: 28168409
Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne infection in Europe and North America. Due to greater variety of genospecies in Europe, some important differences in clinical presentation on the two continents exist. Non-specific nature of many of LB clinical manifestations presents a diagnostic challenge and concise case definitions are essential for its satisfactory management. These new case definitions for European LB emphasise recognition of clinical manifestations supported by relevant laboratory criteria and may be used in a clinical setting and for epidemiological investigations.
COBISS.SI-ID: 27269337