Abstract

HERRERA LORENZO, Orestes; INFANTE FERRER, José; RAMIREZ REYES, Carlos  and  LAVASTIDA HERNANDEZ, Hugo. Lyme disease: history, microbiology, epizootiology and epidemiology. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2012, vol.50, n.2, pp. 231-244. ISSN 1561-3003.

Objective: bearing in mind the risk posed by the presence of the vector of Lyme disease in Cuba, the authors have considered it necessary to carry out a review of the disease with the purpose of contributing updated information to specialists and health institutions involved in its surveillance and epidemiological control. Content: a discussion is presented of the history, microbiology, epizootiology and epidemiology of Lyme disease, as well as its clinical manifestations in the main domestic animal hosts. Conclusions: Lyme borreliosis is a new infectious disease. Like other borrelias and spirochetes, it has an affinity for the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system, thus becoming a diagnosis of optimistic exclusion in neurology. Knowledge about the vectors, geographic distribution and some specific biological characteristics of this new borrelia species is crucial for practitioners of the 21st century, a time when immunology and molecular biology shed new light on old and new questions alike.

Keywords : Lyme borreliosis; Ixodes ricinus; eritema migrans; Allen Steere; Willy Burgdorfer; B. burgdorferi; Elisa IgG, Elisa IgM; Western Blot.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )