Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39238048›Full record

ArticleParasites & vectors2024

Incidence of symptomatic Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato infection in Romania, 2018-2023.

Frederick J Angulo, Julia Olsen, Veronica Purdel, Mihaela Lupșe, Adriana Hristea, Violeta Briciu, Emily Colby, Andreas Pilz, Kate Halsby, Patrick H Kelly and 3 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Parasites & vectors, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Prevalence and Risk Factors ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Seroprevalence ofMicroorganisms · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Frederick J AnguloVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Pfizer US Commercial Division, 500 Arcola Road, Collegeville, PA, 19426, USA. Frederick.J.Angulo@pfizer.com.
Julia OlsenVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Pfizer US Commercial Division, 500 Arcola Road, Collegeville, PA, 19426, USA.
Veronica PurdelPfizer Romania SRL, Vaccines, Willbrook Platinum Business & Convention Center Sos, București-Ploiești No. 172-176, Building B, Stage 5, Sector 1, Bucharest, 013686, Romania.
Mihaela LupșeDepartment of Infectious Diseases, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Adriana HristeaUniversity of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania.
Violeta BriciuDepartment of Infectious Diseases, "Iuliu Hatieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Emily ColbyVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Pfizer US Commercial Division, 500 Arcola Road, Collegeville, PA, 19426, USA.
Andreas PilzPfizer Corporation Austria, Vaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Floridsdorfer Hauptstraße 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
Kate HalsbyVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Dorking Road, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 7NY, UK.
Patrick H KellyVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Pfizer US Commercial Division, 500 Arcola Road, Collegeville, PA, 19426, USA.
Gordon BrestrichPfizer Pharma GmbH, Vaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Friedrichstraße, 110-10117, Berlin, Germany.
Jennifer C MoïsiVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, 23 Avenue du Docteur Lannelongue, 75014, Paris, France.
James H StarkVaccines and Antivirals Medical Affairs, Pfizer US Commercial Division, 1 Portland Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLyme borreliosis (LB), caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl), is the most common tick-borne disease in Europe. Although public health surveillance for LB has been conducted in Romania since 2007, the extent of under-detection of Bbsl infections by LB surveillance has not been estimated. We therefore estimated the under-detection of symptomatic Bbsl infections by LB surveillance to better understand the LB burden in Romania.

methodsThe number of incident symptomatic Bbsl infections were estimated from a seroprevalence study conducted in six counties (population 2.3 M) and estimates of the symptomatic proportion and duration of persistence of anti-Bbsl immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. The number of incident symptomatic Bbsl infections were compared with the number of surveillance-reported LB cases to derive an under-detection multiplier, and then the under-detection multiplier was applied to LB surveillance data to estimate the incidence of symptomatic Bbsl infection from 2018 to 2023.

resultsWe estimate that there were 1968 individuals with incident symptomatic Bbsl infection in the six counties where the seroprevalence study was conducted in 2020, compared with the 187 surveillance-reported LB cases, resulting in an under-detection multiplier of 10.5 (i.e., for every surveillance-reported LB case, there were 10.5 symptomatic incident Bbsl infections). The incidence of symptomatic Bbsl infection in the six counties was 86.9/100,000 population in 2023, similar to the incidence in 2018-2020 (86.0) and higher than in 2021-2022 (40.3).

conclusionsThere is a higher incidence of symptomatic Bbsl infection than is reported through public health surveillance for LB in Romania. Additional efforts are needed to strengthen disease prevention and address the important public health problem of LB.

Indexed as

Antibodies, BacterialBorrelia burgdorferi GroupLyme DiseaseAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansImmunoglobulin GIncidenceMaleMiddle AgedRomaniaSeroepidemiologic StudiesAntibodies, BacterialImmunoglobulin GDisease burdenEpidemiologyLyme borreliosisTick-borne disease

Identifiers

PMID39238048
PMCPMC11378645

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.