Lyme disease in South Africa.
OBJECTIVE
This article presents an overview of Lyme disease (LD) as it applies to neuropsychiatry and summarises research results on the epidemiology of LD in South Africa.


METHODS
The study is based on a review of research papers from various medical disciplines that focused on the epidemiology of LD in South Africa.


RESULTS
Assessment of the incidence of LD in South Africa is based on a few anecdotal studies. The results of the studies are dominated by experimental weeknesses.


CONCLUSIONS
The sporadic nature of LD Incidence in South Africa may either reflect a restriction of research efforts or be a true indication of the epidemiology of the disease. This review lends support to the former hypothesis. The low reported incidence of LD in South Africa is probably due to a lack of awareness and research effort.
Strijdom
S C
SC
Department of Psychiatry, University of the Witwastersrand, Johannesburg.
Berk
M
M
D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology