| Summary: | Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infection in West Europe and United States of America’s northeastern territories. Despite seroprevalence studies and case reports from various regions, widespread epidemiologic studies are lacking in Turkey. The disease takes its name from Old Lyme village in the State of Connecticut, United States and its causative agents, first isolated by Willy Burgdorfer in early 80’s, include Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. garinii, B. afzelii, and B. mayonii. The causative agents of Lyme disease are transmitted by Ixodes ticks, which may be harbored by rodents, birds, deer, or humans as ectoparasites in larva, nymph, or adult forms. Humans are not a part of the natural life cycle of Borrelia spirochetes. The presence of ecosystem, required for the spread of Lyme disease in Turkey, has been confirmed in respect to climatic characteristics, vector ticks found in cattle, sheep, goats, foxes, and tortoises, and most importantly, Borrelia-infected Ixodes ricinus ticks. Human Lyme seropositivity in Turkey varies between 2% and 44%. The contribution of Lyme cases presented from Turkey to international medical literature is prominent mostly in pediatric neuroborreliosis cases, for which, the presentations of sixth borreliosis-associated pediatric transverse myelitis in literature and the benefit of plasmapheresis in intravenous immunoglobulin–nonrespondent B. burgdorferi–related Guillain-Barré syndrome in a child are good examples. Lyme disease, as which 60 cases have been reported till 2010, and the number of reported cases of which does not exceed 80 until now, does not seem to be a big health problem in Turkey for now despite some unfounded arguments in mass media.
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