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. 2015 Mar 15:8:161.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-015-0777-6.

Physician reported incidence of early and late Lyme borreliosis

Agnetha Hofhuis  1 , Margriet Harms  2 , Sita Bennema  3 , Cees C van den Wijngaard  4 , Wilfrid van Pelt  5
Affiliations

Physician reported incidence of early and late Lyme borreliosis

Agnetha Hofhuis et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Lyme borreliosis is the most common vector-borne disease in Europe and North America. The objective of this study is to estimate the incidence of tick bites and Lyme borreliosis, representative of our entire country, including erythema migrans, disseminated Lyme borreliosis and persisting symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis.

Methods: A questionnaire on clinical diagnoses of Lyme borreliosis was sent to all GPs, company physicians, and medical specialists. To adjust for possible misclassification and telescoping bias, we sent additional questionnaires to categorize reported cases according to likelihood of the diagnosis and to exclude cases diagnosed outside the target period.

Results: Adjusted annual incidence rate for disseminated Lyme borreliosis was 7.7 GP reports per 100,000 inhabitants, and for persisting symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis was 5.5 GP reports per 100,000 inhabitants, i.e. approximately 1,300 and 900 cases respectively. GP consultations for tick bites and erythema migrans diagnoses were 495 and 132 per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively, i.e. 82,000 and 22,000 cases in 2010.

Conclusions: This is the first reported nationwide physician survey on the incidence of tick bites and the whole range of manifestations of Lyme borreliosis, including persisting symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis. This is crucial for complete assessment of the public health impact of Lyme borreliosis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Lyme borreliosis manifestations as a proportion of all Lyme-related diagnoses, by type of physician.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Adjusted incidence rates of general practitioner consultations for tick bites and Lyme borreliosis diagnoses per 100,000 inhabitants of the Netherlands in 2010. Vertical bars represent 95% confidence intervals. *For comparison, the incidence of tick bite consultations and diagnoses of erythema migrans diagnoses per 100,000 inhabitants in 2009 was 564 and 134, respectively [18].
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