K. Rohith Kumar

ABSTRACTLyme borreliosis, also known as Lyme disease, is a multi-organ animal-borne disease, caused by bacteria – spirochetes of the Borrelia species classified as Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) strain (sensu lato). It is the most common tick-borne infectious disease in Europe and USA. The infection is transmitted by ticks of the species Ixodes ricinus. . In Europe, I. ricinus ticks usually prey on rodents and deer, Humans are infected through a tick bite to the skin. Bb has to be attached for at least 24 h for an infection to result. The risk of infection increases with length of time of human exposure to the tick, approaching 100% on the third day. Thus, early removal of ticks is the best method of Lyme borreliosis prophylaxis. The most common manifestation of Lyme disease, erythema migrans, appears at the site of a tick bite 3–30 days (but typically within 7–10 days) after the bite. It is recognized in more than 90% of patients who have objective evidence of B. burgdorferi infection. Erythema migrans is usually asymptomatic but may be pruritic or painful, and it may be accompanied by systemic clinical features such as fever, malaise, headache, myalgia, or arthralgia. A two-step diagnosis is necessary: the first step is based on a high sensitivity ELISA test with positive results confirmed by a more specific Western blot assay. Antibiotic therapy is curative in most cases, but some patients develop chronic symptoms, which do not respond to antibiotics.Keywords: Lyme borreliosis ; ELISA; tick-borne; Western blot assay