Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most frequent tick-transmitted infection in Europe and The United States of America. The disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi transmitted by bites of Ixodes ticks. The aim of this study was to assess the seroprevalence of LB among the groups who are at risk in Erzurum Province, Turkey.

Blood samples were obtained from 101 subjects who are at risk for LB and 79 healthy blood donors. The samples were tested for the presence of B. burgdorferi IgG and IgM antibodies with a commercial enzyme immunoassay kit (Anti Borrelia IgG and IgM Generic Assay, Germany). Reactive sera were confirmed with Vidas ELISA (Lyme IgG/IgM, bioMérieux, France). The seroprevalence of B. burgdorferi was 2.0% (n=2) in the group at risk and 2.5% (n=2) in blood donors. The result was not statistically significant (p>0.05). None of the 180 volunteers' samples showed the presence of B. burgdorferi IgM antibodies. These results indicate that LB is not an important health problem in our region, but further epidemiologic studies should be performed to determine the distribution of Lyme disease and Ixodes ticks in the region.