Lyme neuroborreliosis in Swedish children—PCR as a complementary diagnostic method for detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in cerebrospinal fluid

The aim of this study was to evaluate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a diagnostic method for the detection of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. in CSF of Swedish children with LNB. This study was performed retrospectively on CSF and serum samples collected from children evaluated for LNB (n = 233) and controls with other specific neurological disorders (n = 59) in a Swedish Lyme endemic area. For anti-Borrelia antibody index, the IDEIA Lyme Neuroborreliosis kit (Oxoid) was used. Two in-house real-time PCR assays targeting the 16S rRNA gene were evaluated (TaqMan® and LUX™). Among patients classified as LNB cases (n = 102), five children (5%) were Borrelia PCR-positive in CSF with the TaqMan® assay. In the Non-LNB group (n = 131), one patient was Borrelia PCR positive with the TaqMan® assay. Among controls (n = 59), all CSF samples were PCR negative. When amplifying and sequencing ospA, we found B. garinii (n = 2), B. afzelii (n = 2), B. bavariensis (n = 1), and one untypable (n = 1). With the LUX™ technology, all CSF samples were PCR negative. The TaqMan® assay could detect only few cases (n = 6) of B. burgdorferi s.l. in CSF among children with LNB and the sensitivity was very low (5%). However, using larger CSF volumes and centrifugation of samples, the PCR technique could still be useful as a complementary diagnostic method when evaluating LNB. Furthermore, detection of spirochete DNA in clinical matrices, including CSF, is the method of choice for studying epidemiological aspects of LNB, a tick-borne emerging disease.