ECOEPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF LYME BORRELIO SIS IN RHONE-ALPES AREA

The aim of the study was to precise the geographical repartition of Ly me borreliosis in the Rhone-Alpes district, to describe the ecological characteristics of the areas propitious to the disease, and to verify the vectorial competence of l. ricinus. The cases of Lyme disease wer e located by means of a questionnaire sent to 1156 physicians. The vec tory role of l. ricinus was studied by two ways : firstly by searching a correlation between the geographical repartition of the tick and th at of cases, secondly by proving the Borrelia infection of the tick. L yme disease is widely spread in the study area, mainly at the collinea n level, its repartition is largely coinciding with that of l. ricinus which was found infected by B. burgdorferi (s.l.). However a few case s, located near the mediterranean area, set an unanswered problem.