Nervous System Lyme Disease-Facts and Fallacies

Abstract

The central or peripheral nervous systems may be involved in up to 15% of patients with untreated infection with B burgdorferi sensu lato, characteristic involvement including meningitis, cranial neuritis, and radiculoneuritis. Diagnosis, based on a logical combination of clinical context and antibody-based testing, is usually straightforward, as is treatment. Misconceptions about what does and does not constitute neurologic disease, and about laboratory testing in this infection, have resulted in widespread anxiety that a broad range of other disorders may be attributable to nervous system Lyme disease. This article will review the reasons for these misunderstandings and the arguments against them.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Central nervous system; Garin–Bujadoux–Bannwarth syndrome; Intrathecal antibody; Lyme disease; Nervous system; Neuroborreliosis; Peripheral nervous system.