Geographical differences in seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in Norway, 2011–2013
Publication date: Available online 27 February 2016 Source:Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases Author(s): Didrik F. Vestrheim, Richard A. White, Ingeborg S. Aaberge, Audun Aase Detection of specific antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is a useful aid for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis. However, antibodies are present in the general population. The seroprevalence increase with age, and varies according to the prevalence of infected ticks. We performed a seroprevalence study of IgM and IgG antibody reactivity against B. burgdorferi sensu lato in Norway by age-groups and geography, in order to provide a reference set of seroprevalence to inform the interpretation of positive test results. We used two commercially available enzyme immuno assays (EIA) and a multiplexed bead assay to detect Borrelia IgG antibodies in a convenience sample of 3057 sera collected from clinical chemistry laboratories in 10 of 19 counties in Norway between December 2011 and January 2013. We estimated seroprevalence by age and county by a logistic regression model. IgM antibodies were detected by two commercially available EIAs and a multiplexed bead assay. The overall seroprevalence of Borrelia IgG was 4.0% (95% CI: 2.4–6.6%) and 4.2% (2.6–6.8%) by the two EIAs, respectively. The seroprevalence increased by age, and by geography from north to south. The IgG assays showed a good agreement for positive test results. All sera positive for IgG in the multiplexed bead assay reacte...
Source: Ticks and Tick borne Diseases - Category: Zoology Source Type: research
More News: Borrelia | Chemistry | Laboratory Medicine | Lyme Disease | Study | Tickborne Diseases | Zoology