title: Sensitivity of a point of care tick-test for the development of Lyme borreliosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A commercially available self-test for the detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in ticks was evaluated for its ability to predict erythema migrans formation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The self-test was performed on 127 Ixodes ricinus from 122 humans that reported tick bites at enrolment and occurrence of symptoms during follow-up. The self-test gave negative results on all the 122 individuals, 14 of whom reported erythema migrans (EM) at follow-up of which 10 were confirmed by their GP. The estimated sensitivity of the self-test for prediction of EM formation is 0% (95% CI: 0%-28%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This self-test is not suitable for reducing the number needed to treat in a post-exposure prophylaxis setting as it already missed all the obvious early Lyme borreliosis cases.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, National Institute for Public Health and Environment, Antonie van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9 P,O, Box 1 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Hein.Sprong@rivm.nl.
authors.forename: Hein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sprong
authors.forename: Arieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Docters van Leeuwen
authors.forename: Manoj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fonville
authors.forename: Margriet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Arnold J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Vliet
authors.forename: Wilfrid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Pelt
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Cees C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: van den Wijngaard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015748:Borrelia burgdorferi Group / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000592:standards*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity