Serological Surveillance of Hospitalized Patients for Lyme Borreliosis in Ukraine

Although in Ukraine the incidence of Lyme borreliosis (LB) has been surging up over the past decades, seroepidemiologic data are not available to date. The objective of this report was to perform preliminary serological survey of hospitalized population for LB. Sera were collected from 203 patients of a hospital located in Western Ukraine. Most patients showed clinical signs that were compatible with LB such as arthritis (n = 29), neurological signs (n = 35), and erythema migrans (EM)-like lesions (n = 60) or unrelated to LB (n = 79). The specimens were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot for anti-Borrelia antibodies. LB was confirmed in 8.6%, 34.5%, and 50% of the patients, who exhibited neurological signs, arthritis, or EM-like lesions, respectively. Anti-Borrelia antibodies were also detected in 6.3% of the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. This study provides the first preliminary data on the seroprevalence of LB in Ukraine. Future studies are warranted to investigate more subsets of the Ukrainian population for this emerging tick-borne disease.