Lyme disease agent in Egypt?

The authors here report our findings after evaluating individuals from various geographical locations in Egypt for exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi . An initial screening of sera collected from high-risk individuals with fever of unknown origin (FUO) or meningitis and of low-risk individuals (routine blood bank donors) as controls revealed several reactive samples. All reactive samples were from routine blood bank donors living in an isolated oasis of Egypt. The authors therefore extended this investigation by assaying 61 individuals from this location, all of whom were either blood bank donors or patients at a clinic for dermatological disorders including sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Results indicated that none of the 16 meningitis or 68 FUO cases had been exposed to Borrelia . Of the 61 individuals from Fayoum, a desert oasis some 80 km south-west of Cairo, 14 (23%) were positive with IFA serum titres ranging from 1:256 to 1:2048 when tested with the Lyme disease agent. Western blot analysis of these sera demonstrated that 8 of the 14 sera had specific reactions to 8-14 protein components of B. burgdorferi . Of these Lyme IFA reactive sera, 10 reacted positively to the RPR test; however, all tested were negative by the FTA-ABS test.