GEOGRAPHICAL INCIDENCE OF INFECTION WITH BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI IN EUROPE

During recent years many seroepidemiological studies have been publish ed about Lyme borreliosis in various European countries. This paper pr esents a review of these studies to clarify the geographical incidence of the infection by B. burgdorferi in Europe and particularly in Ital y. Data of Lyme disease seroprevalence has been established in Europea n patients or at-risk populations and in blood donors or control subje cts. In Northern Europe the seroprevalence of antibodies to B. burgdor feri in patients or in at-risk subjects is higher in Sweden, 19% and l ower in Estonia, 2.7%. In Central Europe the incidence of antibodies t o B. burgdorferi in patients or in at-risk subjects is higher in The N etherlands, 28% and Switzerland, about 26%, and lower in Poland, 15%. The range of antibodies to B. burgdorferi in blood donors or control s ubjects shows the highest spikes in Ireland 15% and the lowest in Aust ria 7.7% and in Germany 5.5%. In Southern Europe we have the highest i ncidence in Croatia, 43%, while we have the lowest incidence in Greece , 1.1%. In Italy the seroprevalence of antibodies to B. burgdorferi in patients or in at-risk subjects seems to vary, in Northern Italy, from the lowest incidence in Lombardia 3.2% to the highest in Friuli 22.3% ; in Central Italy, from the lowest incidence in Emilia (Parma) 0.2% t o the highest in Toscana 18.3%. The range of antibodies to B. burgdorf eri in blood donors or control subject shows the lowest spikes in Lazi o 1.5%, while the highest are in Sicilia 10.9%. Although the amount of works on infection diffusion by B. burgdorferi is increasing, the sta tistical evaluations, comparisons and the drawing of acceptable conclu sions continue to be difficult. In fact data, obtained from various Eu ropean laboratories, are often not directly comparable, because of dif ferent serological tests used to detect antibodies to B. burgdorferi. Consequently it seems very important the work that could be performed by a multicenter study on the standardization of the criteria to be us ed in WB interpretation, presently in progress among several different European laboratories, and the necessary consequent efforts to elabor ate a common panel of criteria about the comparison of the data.