[Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in a population sample of the state of Zulia].

Between July 1992 and September 1993 an investigation was carried out in a population of Zulia State, Venezuela, in order to detect antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi for the diagnosis of Lyme disease. A total of 74 patients were studied: 37 asymptomatic and 37 patients clinically suspected having the disease. ELISA tests were performed to determine antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi. The positive cases, confirmed by duplicate, were tested with VDRL, Monotest, Rheumatoid Factor and Antinuclear Antibodies to eliminate false positives. The total positive cases were 14 of 74 (18.9%). Positive cases in the symptomatic group (29.7%) were higher than in the asymptomatic group (8.9%). The most frequent clinical diagnosis was Morfea (54.5%). The major serological diagnosis (54.32%) was obtained from the chronic patients (more than a year of evolution). A 45.5% of symptomatic patients presented antibodies, despite of receiving antibiotic treatment. Most of the symptomatic positive cases, and also the asymptomatic cases, had a previous visit or permanence in forestal or rural areas. The results of this investigation prove the existence of antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi in the population of Zulia State, both in the symptomatic as well as in the asymptomatic patients. These results open the path to use a more specific test like immunoblot, for the diagnosis of Lyme disease in our area.