[Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi antibodies in Hamburg blood donors].

Abstract

One thousand regular blood donors of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the University Hospital in Hamburg were screened for antibodies against the Lyme disease spirochete, B. burgdorferi. 7.2% were initially reactive in the enzyme immunoassay, 37.5% of which were confirmed by immunoblot. The seroprevalence of anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies thus is 2.7% in Hamburg blood donors. 25 of 27 positive donors received a physical exam, which did not reveal any symptoms of acute or chronic Lyme disease. 24 of these 25 donors were tested for B. burgdorferi-specific DNA in urine by polymerase chain reaction, which came out negative in all cases. Introduction of B. burgdorferi antibody screening is not regarded an effective means to prevent transfusion-transmitted Lyme disease.