[Antibiotic treatment in Lyme arthritis]

Primary cause of Lyme arthritis (LA) is an invasion and survival of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. spirochetes within joint tissues. Elimination of the pathogen is an effective treatment method in a great majority of patients and can be achieved by a number of antibiotic regimens of confirmed efficacy. Antibiotic therapy lasting for 2 to 4 weeks enables eradication of the infection, followed by resolution of arthritis within weeks to months. If insufficient, the course of therapy may be repeated up to 3 times in a few months' intervals, although effectiveness of repeated treatment is not so well confirmed and probably small. Further symptoms, persisting in spite of proper antibiotherapy, typically are not caused by ongoing infection, but rather by autoimmune phenomena or persistent damage to the joint, so further administration of antibiotics in such patients seems of no benefit.