Prevention of borreliosis in persons bitten by infected ticks.

A study on prevention of borreliosis in humans bitten by infected ticks was performed in 1992-1994 in the Perm' region of Russia. Adult Ixodes persulcatus ticks were removed from the study subjects, and live preparations made from the material obtained from the gut of each tick were microscopically analyzed (up to 250 microscopic fields per preparation). Persons were divided into experimental and control groups (261 and 97 persons, respectively). The experimental group received doxycycline (100 mg twice daily) for 3-5 days after the tick bite. In the control (untreated) group, 12 persons contracted borreliosis. In the experimental group, the disease was diagnosed in three subjects. Morbidity per 100 patients in the experimental group was 1.1, i.e. 11 times lower than that in the control group. Identification of Borrelia in ticks by microscopic analysis, followed by a short-term treatment with antibiotics according to microbiological indications, is an efficient method for preventing persons from contracting borreliosis.