First experience with ELISA serosurvey for tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease) in Czechoslovakia

Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi were searched for in the sera from two groups of hospital patients and one group of healthy agricultural workers. The antibody response was measured by the authors' own modification of the ELISA method employing the antigen prepared from Borrelia recurrentis strain propagated in laboratory mice. Positive antibody titres to Borrelia were demonstrated in 5 out of the 44 patients admitted to the Infectious Diseases Clinic, in 8 out of the 32 patients from the Neurologic Clinic and in 16 out of the 52 healthy agricultural workers living in areas infested with ticks. These findings are interpreted as showing the topicality of the Lyme disease problem in Czechoslovakia.