Incidence of Lyme Borreliosis In NHS Highland, A pilot study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Incidence of Lyme Borreliosis In NHS Highland, A pilot study
IRAS ID
116949
Contact name
Samantha Holden
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Highland Research and Development Manager
Research summary
Lyme Borreliosis is a zoonotic disease that is borne and transmitted by ticks and is caused by a spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi.
Although it is acknowledged that Lyme Borreliosis (LB) is endemic in parts of the UK (for example, the Highlands) and that the number of cases of LB across Europe is rising, there is a lack of published data supporting national guidelines. Published incidence data in the UK is taken almost entirely from laboratory testing data when national guidelines actually state that testing is not indicated for obvious clinical cases, that is, patients with an identifiable LB rash seen in general practice. Therefore, it is likely that incidence figures of LB for NHS Highland and, by inference, for Scotland, are probably being underestimated.
Approximately 20 GP practices will be recruited from within NHS Highland Health Board area. A search of the practice database of participating practices will be completed by the NHS Highland Research Co-ordinator for Primary Care, and data on all cases of suspected or confirmed, treated LB, within the 2010, 2011 calendar years, respectively, will be collected.
National Scottish Lyme Borreliosis Testing Laboratory, Inverness, will identify the total number of Lymes Test Requests from each practice during the 2010, 2011 calendar years and the total number of samples seropositive for LB from each practice during this period.
A direct comparison will be made between the total number of confirmed and suspected cases of Lyme from General Practices with the number of referrals for Lyme testing and seropositive cases recorded by National Lyme Borreliosis testing laboratory on a practice by practice basis. This will enable us to make some initial conclusions about geographical distribution of cases.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
13/NS/0115
Date of REC Opinion
12 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion