[Lyme borreliosis--diagnosis, clinical aspects and therapy of the cutaneous form].

Occurrence of Lyme borreliosis and namely its skin forms have a rising tendency. Thick population of ticks and their relatively high contamination with borrelia (app. 9% in Slovakia), increased presence of man in nature and frequent professional exposition create good conditions for the spreading of the disease. During the period of 20 months in 1993-1994 19 cases of borreliosis were recorded among 2,187 patients hospitalized at the Bratislava Dermatologic Clinic--17 cases of erythema chronicum migrans and two cases of acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans. All patients stated that they came into contact with ticks 24 hours--12 months prior to the origin of dermatologic alterations. 14 cases of erythema chronicum migrans being IFT examined by means of B. burgdorferi antigen included 10 patients who yielded the titre of antibodies higher than 1:256; 6 patients being examined by means of ELISA test included 2 positive findings. The IFT values varied also in cases of classical clinical picture of erythema chronicum migrans and a discrepancy was observed between IFT and ELISA results. Two cases of acrodermatitis chronica atrophica had positive serologic test. The serologic tests were performed also in 4 cases of scleroderma with positive results. Into their analysis the authors included also other studies on the basis of which they present schemes of diagnostic examination and therapeutic interventions in Lyme borreliosis. (Tab. 2, Ref. 4.)