Algorithm for monitoring patients after tick bite in the context of Lyme-borreliosis

Abstract

Timely diagnosis of Lyme-borreliosis (LB) is the key to its successful treatment. Outpatient monitoring of patients after tick bite based on the algorithm is able to optimize the early diagnosis of LB, shorten the start of treatment and improve the disease surveillance.Purpose. Creation of an algorithm for monitoring patients after tick bite for use in outpatient settings by primary care physicians. Material and methods. A retrospective, non-randomized, single-center cohort study was conducted based on the analysis of data from 660 outpatient records of patients consulted by an infectious disease specialist in the Infectious clinical hospital No.1 in Moscow. Patients were divided by age and the presence or absence of a diagnosis of LB. Confirmation of the diagnosis was carried out according to clinical and/or laboratory criteria using methods of enzyme-linked immunoassay and immune blot. Results. The analysis of the results of enzyme immunoassay of antibodies to borrelia in patients with LB was carried out. The optimal sampling time was 7 or more weeks from the moment of tick bite and 4 or more weeks from the moment of onset of symptoms. The specificity of immunological diagnostics in patients with excluded LB was evaluated. The proportion of doubtful and false positive results in such patients was high — 28.1%. False positive results were more common in adults (37.6%) compared with children (9.8%), which is associated with more frequent false positive results of IgM determination (34.1% in adults, 4.9% in children). Based on the data of our study, an algorithm for monitoring patients after tick bite has been developed, focused on use in outpatient settings by primary care physicians.