Lyme borreliosis reinfection: might it be explained by a gender difference in immune response?
Abstract: Summary Lyme borreliosis is a tick-borne disease often manifesting as a circular skin lesion. This cutaneous form of the disease is known as erythema migrans. In a 5-year follow-up study in southern Sweden, 31 of 708 individuals initially diagnosed with erythema migrans and treated with antibiotics were found to be reinfected with Borrelia burgdorferi. Although men and women were tick-bitten to the same extent, 27 of the 31 reinfected individuals were women, all of whom were over 44 years of age. The aim of this study was to determine whether this discrepancy in gender distribution could be a result of differences in immunological response. Twenty single-infected and 21 reinfected women and 18 single-infected and three reinfected men were included in the study. None of the participants showed any sign of an ongoing B. burgdorferi infection, and thus the habitual response was captured. Lymphocytes were separated from blood and stimulated with antigens. The secretion of interle
