[Could aspecific symptoms be related to Borrelia infection?].
Chronic manifestations (knee arthritis, encephalomyelitis, axonal polyneuropathy) may occur in the late phase of Lyme disease. Contrasting with such well-defined manifestations, the "post-Lyme syndrome" includes symptoms such as fatigue, algia, malaise, cognitive disorders, after treatment of a documented Lyme disease. The analysis of clinical, neuropsychological, bacteriological, immunological, epidemiological, quality of life, and treatment data does not support the reality of such a syndrome. Moreover, no physiopathological data can relate Borrelia infection to such symptoms in patients without previously documented Lyme disease symptoms but who are seropositive (or even sometimes without serodiagnosis as for instance in the Munchausen by proxy, or Gulf war syndromes).
Papo
T
T
Service de médecine interne, hôpital Bichat, 46, rue Henri-Huchard 75877 Paris cedex 18, France. thomas.papo@bch.aphp.fr
D001168:Arthritis / Q000382:microbiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011788:Quality of Life