Elisa Screening for lyme disease in children with chronic arthritis

ABSTRACT

100 patients aged 6 - 15 years presented to El-Shattby University Children's Hospital with chronic/recurrent arthritis and skin lesions suggestive of erythema chronicum migrans [ECM] were investigated for presence of IgG antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi flagellum antigen using ELISA test. Four cases yielded positive serum samples which were true positive cases as they showed negative Venereal Disease Research Laboratory [VDRL] test. Ticks collected from domestic animals from the houses of serologically positive patients were found belonging to hard tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Based on clinical ground, only one case was strongly suspected to have Lyme disease due to the presence of the distinctive skin lesion [ECM], while the other 3 cases were not diagnosed till the results of serological test. This study provided serological evidence concerning the presences of Lyme disease in Egypt. Furthermore efforts to identify its prevalence. Various clinical presentations, vectors and animal hosts are warranted