title: Secondary retinitis pigmentosa and cerebral demyelination in Lyme borreliosis.
abstract: A 15-year-old girl developed retinitis pigmentosa-like fundus changes in the left eye and optic neuropathy in the right eye as well as cerebral demyelination as a result of late Lyme borreliosis (LB). The diagnosis was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction, which detected a Borrelia burgdorferi specific segment of a gene coding for 41 kD endoflagellin, both in the vitreous and the cerebrospinal fluid. The diagnosis was delayed because testing for Borrelia antibodies in serum and cerebrospinal fluid yielded negative results. However, later on, another laboratory reported the antibodies of the patient's pretreatment serum to be positive for LB.
authors.affiliation: Helsinki University, Department of Ophthalmology, Finland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karma
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Pirttilä
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Viljanen
authors.forename: Y E
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Lähde
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Raitta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005408:Flagellin / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000150:complications*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000209:etiology*; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D005408:Flagellin