[Seroepidemiologic study of Lyme's borreliosis in Mexico City and the northeast of the Mexican Republic]

Abstract

Objective: To detect serological evidence of B burgdorferi infection in individuals from Mexico City and from the Northeast Region of the country.

Material and methods: A representative sample size of serum from Mexico City and the states of the Northeast of Mexico were taken from serum samples corresponding to the 1987-1988 national survey were obtained from the National Serum Bank. Antibodies against B burgdorferi were detected by ELISA and confirmed with Western blot (WB) assays. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: A total of 2,346 serum samples were tested; 297 (12.6%) were positive for ELISA, and 122 of 297 were confirmed by WB. Seroprevalence was 3.43% in Mexico City and 6.2% in the Northeast region of the country. Tamaulipas was the state with the highest seroprevalence.

Conclusions: The prevalence of seropositive cases shows that borrelial infection is present in the northeast of Mexico and Mexico City. Identification of clinical cases and infected tick vectors is necessary to confirm the presence of Lyme disease in Mexico.