Lyme Borreliosis Serology: A Prospective Cohort Study of Forestry Service Workers in the Netherlands over 8 Years (2008 to 2016) of Follow-Up

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 5; p. 1143
• Main Authors: Ter Hofstede, Hadewych, Haex, Jeroen, Belias, Michael, Oosting, Marije, Joosten, Leo A B, Stelma, Foekje F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 08.05.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antigens; Arachnids; Borrelia; Borrelia burgdorferi; Borreliosis; Cohort analysis; Exposure; Forest management; Forestry; forestry workers; Gender; Health aspects; Immunoglobulin G; Insect bites; Lyme borreliosis; Occupational exposure; Population studies; prevalence; Questionnaires; Regression models; Seroconversion; Serology; Services industry workers; Smoking; Statistics; Survival; Survival analysis; Syphilis; tick exposure; Netherlands; United States > US; Germany; Lyme borreliosis; prevalence; Borrelia burgdorferi; tick exposure; forestry workers; serology
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life13051143

There is little known about the dynamics within responses to spp. upon repeated exposure to tick bites and the development of serological markers over time. Most studies have investigated antibody development in risk populations over a short period of time. Therefore, we aimed to study the dynamics of anti- antibodies in forestry service workers over 8 years in association with tick bite exposure. Blood samples from 106 forestry service workers originally included in the 200 Functional Genomics Project (Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) were followed for 8 years and tested annually for anti- antibodies (ELISA and Western blot). IgG seroconversion was related to the number of tick bites in the previous year, which was obtained through annual questionnaires. The hazard ratio for IgG seroconversion was calculated using Cox regression survival analysis and a logistic regression model, both adjusting for age, gender and smoking. Borrelia IgG seropositivity in the study population did not vary significantly between years and the average prevalence was 13.4%. Of the 27 subjects that underwent seroconversion during the study period, 22 reconverted from positive to negative. Eleven subjects seroconverted a second time. The total seroconversion rate per year (negative to positive) was 4.5%. Active smoking was associated with IgG seroconversion in the >5 tick bites group ( < 0.05). According to the two models used, the risks of IgG seroconversion in the >5 tick bites group were HR = 2.93 ( = 0.10) and OR = 3.36 ( < 0.0005). IgG seroconversion in forestry service workers was significantly related to increasing tick bite exposure in a survival and logistic regression model adjusting for age, gender and smoking.