[Clinical characteristics of tick-borne encephalitis complicated by Lyme borreliosis].

Clinical characteristics of mixed tick borne encephalitis (TBE) + Lyme borrelliosis (LB) infection and monoinfections are compared. Eighty-five patients with TBE + LB mixed infection serologically verified by EIA and 87 with isolated TBE, who fell ill in 1996, were examined. Among patients with mixed infection, cases with blurred TBE predominated; severe forms (meningeal and focal) were almost two times less incident than in TBE monoinfection. Typical clinical symptoms of LB were observed in 63.5% patients, while in the rest 36.5% LB manifested only by circulation of antibodies to B. burgdorferi. Comparative analysis of patients with mixed TBE + LB infection and TBE monoinfection confirmed a more benign course of TBE during the acute period in patients with mixed infection. Mixed infection should be ruled out or confirmed by thorough clinical examinations with obligatory detection of antibodies to agents of both diseases.