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

Parasit, hung., 24:5-51,1991 © Hungarian Society of Parasitologists Lyme borreliosis in Hungary in the years 1984 through 1989 A. LAKOS

1 Abstract: Lyme borreliosis (Lb) is one of the most important bacteriological and clinical discoveries of the last few decades. The first isolation of the pathogen called Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) in 1982 started off a tremendous interest in this tick-borne illness. Recently, Lb has become the most frequently reported vector-borne infection in North America and Europe. The aim of the present study is to describe the clinical picture and epidemiology of Lb in Hungary. This work was inspired by the first recognition of Lb cases in 1984. By the end of 1989, 1175 cases had been found. Of them 44% had the characteristic skin lesion of erythema chronicum migrans (ECM), 30% had neurological involvement and 25% showed arthritis. The clinical, therapeutical and epidemiological features of Lb based on 1175 Hungarian cases are presented. Key words: Lyme borreliosis, Borrelia burgdorferi, epidemiology, Hungary, Ixodes ricinus INTRODUCTION Lyme, Old-Lyme and East Haddam are little rural towns in Connecticut, U.S.A., where a cluster of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis cases was reported in 1975. Steere and his co-workers investigated the origin of this endemic and described the new disorder in 1975-1977. Recently, Lyme disease is the most frequently reported tick-borne infection. The most important vectors are Ixodes dammini and Ixodes pacificus in North America, as well as Ixodes ricinus in Europe. The pathogen was first isolated by Burgdorfer and named Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) (Photo 1). Nowadays, by the suggestion of Bózsik et al. (16) the disease is called Lyme borreliosis (Lb). After the isolation of the new spirochete, it became possible to prove that erythema chronicum migrans (ECM), acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA), lymphadenosis benigna cutis (LBC), and a group of meningoradiculitis. Bannwarth's syndrome (BS) are different manifestations of the same disease. Bb infection may also cause carditis, chronic arthritis and several other forms of neurological disorders. Most recently, otoneurological and ophthalmological complications as well as fetal injury have 1 Central Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Budapest, Hungary