Immunoblot reactivity at follow-up in treated patients with Lyme neuroborreliosis and healthy controls.

About 5–20% of the general population in endemic areas have seroprevalence for anti-borrelial antibodies. Previous studies have shown a high rate of 25–97% of persisting anti-borrelial antibodies in patients with treated Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) at follow-up. These studies used immunoblots with antigens from whole-cell sonicates, which could be less specific than modern recombinant antigens. We assessed the seroprevalence of anti-borrelial antibodies in serum from patients with definite LNB and healthy controls with a line immunoblot using highly specific recombinant antigens.