[Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi serum antibodies in 651 patients with predominantly neurologic diseases].

An analysis was undertaken to the records of 651 patients (median age 51 years, range 1-91; 334 male and 317 female patients), who were admitted for various reasons to the department of neurology and psychosomatics of the county hospital in Villach (Kärnten, Austria), over the period of one year. The clinical diagnoses were mostly neurological and psychiatric (n = 599), involving 25 different conditions. Other diagnoses (n = 52) comprised a group of 13 various conditions. Sera of all these patients were tested for antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. Overall seropositivity was 37.8%. Seropositivity increased significantly with age (p < 0.01). Seroprevalence exceeded 40% in patients with meningitis, paresis of the cranial nerves, cervical syndrome, pareses and sponylitis. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was raised in 37.9% of cases which was not related to seropositivity. ESR was significantly increased in patients with lumbago (p < 0.01) and with arthritis (p < 0.05). Antibiotics and dosages used were recorded in 164 cases. All these cases improved after therapy. Of 81 patients with a history of tick bite, 43 (53%) were seropositive. This is a significantly higher incidence than that of patients without tick bites (p < 0.01). The retrospective evaluation of patients' records showed that anamnestic and clinical findings alone do not suffice to establish the specific diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis and, hence, do not provide the indication of appropriate therapy. Furthermore, the mere demonstration of serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi does not give information on the current state of infection. In case of a suspected Borrelia burgdorferi infection confirmatory tests are needed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)