Neurological and psychological symptoms after the severe acute neuroborreliosis

The purpose of this study was to delineate distant neurological and neurops ychological effects of severe neuroborreliosis. A group of 33 patients (12 men and 21 women) were selected for the: study. Every patient, had suffered from severe meningitis, meningoencephalitis or meningopolyradiculoneuritis due to neuroborreliosis in the chronic form of the illness. Standardised m edical interview, physical examination and a series of neuropsychological t ests (WAIS-R, BDI, BENTON-BENDER, DUM) were performed. In the clinical hist ory, 36.4% of the patients complained of headache, 27.3% of subjective memo ry distortions; 33.3% of the patients suffered from sleeplessness. The neur ological examination showed that 36.4% of the patients experienced such cer ebellum integrity disturbances as abnormalities in gait and coordination or even mild ataxia. 21.2% of the patients experienced dysfunction in the pro prioceptive pathways, 9% asymmetry in deep tendon reflexes (DTR's), 27.3% d isturbances in the sensory responses. The examination showed, however, no m uscular strength abnormalities, Half of the patients had slight depression. Psychological tests indicated that 21.2% of the patients had problems in t hinking process and experienced memory impairment. 36.4% of the patients ha d significant organic damage in the central nervous system. The results of this study suggest the existence of long-lasting consequences of acute neur oborreliosis, which can significantly influence the quality of life of pati ents.