Retinal vasculitis in Lyme borreliosis

Three patients with retinal vasculitis are reported who were found to be seroreactive for Lyme borreliosis. Careful investigation revealed no other apparent etiology for the angiitis, and improvement of the retinal vasculitis on tetracycline therapy was documented by fluorescein angiography in one of them. Two cases of retinal vasculitis were presented at the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis in Stockholm 18-21 June 1990, and two cases of cerebral vasculitis due to Borrelia burgdorferi have been published. To our knowledge, this is the first published report of retinal vasculitis occurring in patients seroreactive for Lyme borreliosis. Although further investigation will be necessary to prove a cause-and-effect relationship, ophthalmologists encountering patients with otherwise unexplained cases of retinal vasculitis, or Eales disease, are encouraged to study these patients carefully for the possibility of Borrelia burgdorferi infection.