title: Mortality in high risk patients with tick-borne relapsing fever analysed by the Borrelia-index.
abstract: Clinical findings on 25 patients with a high spirochaetemia are presented. The diagnosis was established by demonstration of Borrelia spirochaetes in the thick blood smear and a Borrelia-index was estimated to calculate the density of the spirochaetemia. Causes of death were septicaemia (3x), severe spirochaetemia in a neonate (1x), and successive relapses in complicated cases without adequate treatment (2x). The results show a positive correlation between the degree of spirochaetemia and severity of complications and the Borrelia-index shows to have a prognostic value.
authors.affiliation: Sengerema Hospital, Mwanza Region, Tanzania.
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Melkert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006767:Hospitals, District; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012061:Relapsing Fever / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality* / Q000469:parasitology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology