Epidemiology of Lyme Disease, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2002-2013.

Epidemiology of Lyme Disease, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2002-2013. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Oct;21(10):1751-8 Authors: Hatchette TF, Johnston BL, Schleihauf E, Mask A, Haldane D, Drebot M, Baikie M, Cole TJ, Fleming S, Gould R, Lindsay R Abstract Ixodes scapularis ticks, which transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease (LD), are endemic to at least 6 regions of Nova Scotia, Canada. To assess the epidemiology and prevalence of LD in Nova Scotia, we analyzed data from 329 persons with LD reported in Nova Scotia during 2002-2013. Most patients reported symptoms of early localized infection with rash (89.7%), influenza-like illness (69.6%), or both; clinician-diagnosed erythema migrans was documented for 53.2%. In a separate serosurvey, of 1,855 serum samples screened for antibodies to B. burgdorferi, 2 were borderline positive (both with an indeterminate IgG on Western blot), resulting in an estimated seroprevalence of 0.14% (95% CI 0.02%-0.51%). Although LD incidence in Nova Scotia has risen sharply since 2002 and is the highest in Canada (16/100,000 population in 2013), the estimated number of residents with evidence of infection is low, and risk is localized to currently identified LD-endemic regions. PMID: 26401788 [PubMed - in process]
Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Emerg Infect Dis Source Type: research