Lack of Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

To the Editor: Several patients with classic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were recently reported to have elevated antibody titers to Borrelia burgdorferi . 1 In one case, the disease apparently stabilized after antibiotic therapy. On the basis of this report, which was carried on television n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe New England journal of medicine Vol. 320; no. 4; pp. 255 - 256
Main Authors Mandell, H, Steere, A C, Reinhardt, B N, Yoshinari, N, Munsat, T L, Brod, S A, Clapshaw, P A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Massachusetts Medical Society 26.01.1989
Subjects
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - etiology
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - immunology
Antibodies, Bacterial - analysis
Borrelia - immunology
Borrelia burgdorferi
Humans
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Summary:To the Editor: Several patients with classic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were recently reported to have elevated antibody titers to Borrelia burgdorferi . 1 In one case, the disease apparently stabilized after antibiotic therapy. On the basis of this report, which was carried on television nationally, a number of patients with ALS hoped that they might have Lyme neuroborreliosis, a potentially curable illness, rather than ALS. Therefore, we analyzed serum samples from all 41 current patients and from 30 former patients with ALS followed at the New England Medical Center Neuromuscular Research Unit, 2 many of whom live in areas in which . . .
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ISSN:0028-4793
1533-4406
DOI:10.1056/NEJM198901263200419