Lyme disease as an interdisciplinary problem

Lyme disease (LD) is one of the most common transmissible diseases, but its course and outcomes for the health are poorly understood. Our knowledge of clinical symptoms, diagnosis and treatment is limited due to the lack of reliable epidemiological studies and long-term follow-up.Patients with suspected LD have a wide variety of symptoms, including fever, rash, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, facial paralysis and arthritis. Therefore, the clinical picture of LD sometimes resembles other pathologies (rheumatological, autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders, etc.).Rare coinfections with this disease transmitted through a tick bite have been described also. Therefore, doctors need to diagnose this disease in time and refer the patient to an infectious disease specialist, because an incorrectly established diagnosis complicates the choice of a treatment method in the future and further worsens the course of the disease.The objective: to determine the relevance of LD as an interdisciplinary problem.Materials and methods: The methods of bibliographic and content analysis of the literature, comparative approach and synthesis, statistical data processing, as well as semantic grouping regarding various aspects of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of LD were used. 125 patient histories were also analyzed.Results. It was found that among 125 patients LD is most often manifested by symptoms characteristic of arthritis of various localizations, Sjogren’s syndrome, Raynaud’s syndrome, gout, spondylitis. Among the patients the age group 51-60 years (34,4 % - 43 patients) prevailed, followed by 31-40 years (18,4 % – 23 people), 41-50 years (17.6 % – 22 people), 61-70 (12 % – 15 persons) and.Women are more affected by LD – 60 % (75) than men – 40% (50). The largest number of symptoms is observed in the age group of 51-60 years – 34.4 % (43), and the least complaints are expressed by patients aged 10-20 years – 2.4 % (3).Conclusions. Modern diagnostic methods are effective if their indication and interpretation are well followed, otherwise they can lead to incorrect diagnosis.Treatment of Lyme disease is based on antibiotic therapy according to its stage and clinical manifestations. However, there are no clear guidelines for the treatment of functional, persistent symptoms that patients experience over a long period of time.