CIRCULATING BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE LYME-DISEASE - RESULTS OF BLOOD CULTURES AND SERUM DNA ANALYSIS

To determine the usefulness of blood culture and polymerase chain reac tion (PCR) analysis in detecting circulating Borrelia burgdorferi or i ts DNA, blood and serum from untreated patients with acute Lyme diseas e were examined. None of the cultures of blood or serum from the 7 pat ients tested demonstrated spirochetes. Similarly, all patient serum sa mples, assayed in two laboratories, were negative for B. burgdorferi D NA using PCR amplification. These results suggest that in patients wit h acute Lyme disease, spirochetes, spirochete DNA, or both circulate e arly, only intermittently, or at low levels and that neither culture n or PCR testing of blood or serum, as currently done, appears likely to prove generally useful in the diagnosis of Lyme disease.