title: Lyme disease seroprevalence in a region of central Italy.
abstract: The present study reports the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies to B. burgdorferi by testing sera from volunteer blood donors in Latium, a region of Central Italy. All samples were tested by ELISA and the positive samples were assayed by Western blotting as a confirmatory test. A positivity rate of 4.3% was recorded by ELISA, while after the confirmatory test by Western blotting the positivity rate decreased to 1.5%. The presence of significant antibody titers to B. burgdorferi in the sera of healthy subjects shows that further investigations are necessary to clarify the real prevalence of Lyme disease in our region.
authors.affiliation: II Chair of Clinical Microbiology, University of Roma, La Sapienza, Italy.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Santino
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nicosia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sessa
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pustorino
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pastorelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Isacchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Piano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G