Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 24. (Budapest, 1991)

Table 7 Frequency of facial palsy among manifestations caused by Borrelia burgdorferi other symptoms facial palsy sum adult 755 106(12.3%) 861 child 199 58 (22.5%) 257 sum 954 164 1118 p<0.001 to demonstrate the seroconversion. ECM is an exception because the diagnosis usually coincided with the prompt start of therapy, and it usually prevented the further elevation of antibody titer. BS usually had become seropositive by the time it was diagnosed. The highest per cent of seroconversion was found among Bell's palsy patients. This was probably due to the serological screening of this illness. Six patients proved to be false positive: three had syphilis, two leptospirosis and one case of systemic lupus erythematosus. Therapy Our patients had been treated with several antibiotics, but only the penicillinand doxycycline-treated groups were big enough for statistical analysis. Patients were not selected randomly for the different treatments: the treatment depended on the physicians' choice. The original treatment was altered only if progression was noted. Only patients receiving monotherapy were selected for further analysis. "Low" and "high" doses of antibiotics were distinguished. In adults, for the treatment of ECM, 6 megaunits/day Phenoxymethylpenicillin or panemecillinum for nine days and at least 200 mg/day doxycycline for 30 days were considered a high dose. Every oral or intramuscular treatment for other concomitant symptoms was considered a low dose. In the latter cases, at least 20 megaunits/day penicillin G for 10 days was accepted as a high dose. ECM cases are the best for the judging the efficacy of a treatment, because in this manifestation it is easy to demonstrate both the start and the end of the disease. Table 8 Antibody titers in different manifestations average titer (reciprocal) average of exponents (2*) ECM 76.1 6.25 LBC 137.2 7.1 BS 427.5 8.74 ACA 739.2 9.53