Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in forest workers from inspectorates with different forest types in Lower Silesia, SW Poland: preliminary study

ABSTRACT

To estimate the Lyme borreliosis (LB) risk for forest workers, totally 646 blood samples were tested for IgG and IgM anti-Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. (anti-B.b.) antibody occurrence using ELISA tests confirmed with western blot. To clarify the varied LB risk, additionally, the data from the Forest Data Bank determining the detailed forest habitat type in particular forest inspectorates were used. The occurrence of the anti-B.b. antibody was confirmed in 22% (8.7% IgM, 17.8% IgG) of forest workers. Analysis of the influence of the habitat type (forest types) indicated the significant positive impact of the occurrence of the deciduous and mixed-deciduous forests on the seroprevalence of anti-B.b. IgG level among forestry workers. However, the share of forest type cannot be the only factor taken into account when assessing risk.

KEYWORDS:

• Lyme borreliosis
• forest workers
• occupational risk
• landscape
• seroprevalence