The detection of specific antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.s., B. afzelii , B. garinii, and B. spielmani antigens in patients with Lyme disease in eastern Poland

*Małgorzata Tokarska-Rodak¹, Hanna Fota-Markowska², Maria Kozioł-Montewka¹, Filip Śmiechowicz², Roma Modrzewska²

Summary
Aim. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the presence of antibodies for B. burgdorferi s.s., B. afzelii , B. garinii , and B. spielmani in persons with Lyme disease from the Lubelski region (eastern Poland) in the aspect of existing disease symptoms.
Materials and methods. The study was conducted in a group of 45 patients with the second stage of Lyme disease hospitalized in 2007-2008. The presence of anti- B. burgdorferi s.l. antibodies IgM and IgG was determined in the patients' serum (Western blot test, Mikrogen).
Results. The antibodies (IgM/IgG) for four gene-species, B. burgdorferi s.s., B. afzelii , B. garinii , and B. spielmani, were present in 39 patients from 45 tested. The presence of IgM anti-OspC antibodies for 1 gene-species, B. spielmani, was found only in 1 person.
Symptoms involving bone/joint structure in the tested group of patients were present among 41 persons, and symptoms of muscle pain among 21. Patients also complained of headaches and attention deficit disorder (6 persons). Erythema migrans appeared in 2 persons.
Conclusions. The results of the study suggest the possibility of co-infections with several gene-species of B. burgdorferi s.l. evidenced by the presence of IgM antibodies to OspC of B. burgdorferi s.s., B. afzelii , B. garinii , and B. spielmani.The detection of antibodies directed against specific B. spielmani antigens suggests that this microorganism may be responsible for triggering Lyme disease both as a single etiologic agent and in co-infection with other Borrelia gene-species. A relation between the types of symptoms present among patients with Lyme disease and gene-species responsible for causing diseases was not found.

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