[Tick spirochetosis--Lyme borreliosis]

Lyme boreliosis is currently the most common tick-borne infection. It may cause various clinical symptoms depending on organ localization and duration of the infection. The disease may be symptomless, subclinical or with full clinical manifestation. Usually three clinical stages may be distinguished. In stage I erythema migrans and flu-like symptoms usually develop. In stage II, connected with the infection spreading with blood and lymph, beside joint pains, neuroboreliosis appears, sometimes the disease involves other organs such as heart, eyes, testicles, joints. Stage III, chronic in its character, usually develops in patients who had previously reported joint and neurological complaints. Encephalopathy and fibromyalgia accompany joint involvement. Diagnostics of Lyme borreliosis is based on clinical evaluation and laboratory test including culture of the bacteria obtained from biopsies and serological tests. There are no established standards of the treatment--some examples of the therapy are presented in the paper. The disease if not treated has a progressive course in most causes, however in some patients it can resolve spontaneously even with no treatment.