Three-year study of antibody to Borrelia burgdorferi in southern Spain

The prevalence of anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies was studied in Granada, Spain, between January 1991 and November 1993 in 354 patients with suspected Lyme disease (group 1); in 50 patients either with syphilis (n = 32) or without syphilis but with a positive Rapid Plasma Reagin test (n = 18) (group 2); and in 150 healthy subjects (group 3). In addition, intrathecal antibody production was evaluated by EIA in CSF samples obtained from 117 patients in group 1. Anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies were detected by EIA in 58 patients (16.4%) in group 1, 29 (8.2%) of whom were positive by Western blot. Intrathecal antibody production was detected in one patient. In group 2, 8 (16%) patients had a positive EIA result, but none of these was confirmed by Western blot. western blot was negative for all subjects in group 3. The results of this study indicate that anti-Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies are not uncommon in our area, although Lyme disease is rare.