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. 2017 Dec 5;17(1):748.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-017-2841-7.

Time trend of clinical cases of Lyme disease in two hospitals in Belgium, 2000-2013

Mathilde De Keukeleire  1   2 , Sophie O Vanwambeke  3 , Benoît Kabamba  4 , Leila Belkhir  5 , Philippe Pierre  6 , Victor Luyasu  7 , Annie Robert  7
Affiliations

Time trend of clinical cases of Lyme disease in two hospitals in Belgium, 2000-2013

Mathilde De Keukeleire et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: As several studies indicated an increase in Lyme disease (LD), notably in neighbouring countries, concerns have arisen regarding the evolution of Lyme disease in Belgium. In order to confirm or infirm the increase of LD in Belgium, we focused on hospital admissions of patients diagnosed with LD between 2000 and 2013 based on hospital admission databases from two hospitals in Belgium.

Methods: Hospital databases are a stable recording system. We did a retrospective analysis of the medical files of patients hospitalized with Lyme disease in two Belgian hospitals between 2000 and 2013.

Results: The annual number of cases of LD for the two studied Belgian hospitals remained stable between 2000 and 2013, ranging from 1 for the Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc to 15 for the the Clinique Saint-Pierre. No increasing trend were noted in the estimated annual incidence rate but the average estimated annual incidence rate was higher for the hospital Saint-Pierre (8.1 ± 3.7 per 100,000 inhabitants) than Saint-Luc (2.2 ± 1.5 per 100,000 inhabitants). The number of hospital cases of LD peaked between June and November.

Conclusions: Based on hospital admissions with LD, no increasing trend was observed for the period 2000-2013 in the two studied Belgian hospitals. This is in line with other studies carried out in Belgium.

Keywords: Belgium; Clinical cases; Lyme Borreliosis; Lyme disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Université catholique de Louvain Medical School, Belgian Registry N° B40320096360 and by the Ethics Committee 045 of Clinique Saint-Pierre in Ottignies. Patient records were anonymized before access for informations within the context of this study.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Density of hospital cases of Lyme disease by age group in two hospitals of Belgium (2000–2013)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Number of hospital cases of Lyme disease by months (2000–2013) in two Belgian hospitals
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Spatial distribution of hospital cases of Lyme disease (2000–2013) in two hospitals of Belgium according to the patient’s residence municipality
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Hospital cases of Lyme disease according to clinical diagnosis in two Belgian hospitals (2000–2013)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Clinical diagnosis of hospital cases of Lyme disease in two Belgian hospitals (2000–2013) according to the distance to the hospital (Bubble size is propotionnal to the number of cases per municipality)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Treatment of hospital cases of Lyme disease in two Belgian hospitals (2000–2013)
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Annual number of hospital cases of Lyme disease (a) and annual estimated incidence of hospital cases of Lyme disease per 100,000 inhabitants (b) in two hospitals of Belgium between 2000 and 2013
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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