from 2 - Infectious and Postinfectious Vasculitis
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 October 2022
Lyme disease, caused by the spirochetes of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) genospecies, is the most common vector-borne, infectious disease in Europe and North America. The clinical presentation varies with the disease stage. Different syndromes were described, and atypical symptoms can result in diagnostic delay or misdiagnosis. Neurological manifestations of systemic infection often referred to as Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), are reported in up to 15% of patients, while cerebrovascular events are even less frequent, published only in small case series. The distinction between early and late LNB is useful, with cranial neuritis and radiculitis occurring more in the former and mild encephalopathy, peripheral neuropathy, or stroke in the latter. There are no specific clinical or radiological characteristics, and diagnosis is based on different criteria, which can pose a challenge. Diagnosis of definite LNB relies on a combination of history, neurological examination, routine analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) along with Bb-specific antibody studies of serum and CSF. The pathophysiological mechanism of LNB remains elusive; however, it seems based on both bacterial involvement and amplified immune response. Appropriate antibiotic treatment can result in a regression of neurological deficits. Finally, the question of an LNB-induced cerebrovascular event should be raised in patients with cryptogenic, multi-territorial strokes without risk factors, alongside radiological signs of vasculitis, and who live in an endemic area and have a history of a tick bite
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.