Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato in wild rabbits in Flanders

Abstract

The number of cases of Lyme disease in humans in Belgium has been steadily increasing. Rabbits might represent a source of human borreliosis due to the fact that they are often infested with ticks. It was therefore the aim of the present study to estimate the seroprevalence of Borrelia infections in rabbits in Belgium. For this purpose blood samples from 103 wild rabbits were examined for the presence of antibodies using ELISA. Antibodies against Borrelia were detected in 8.7% of the samples, yielding an estimated prevalence of 2.3%. The low prevalence suggests that rabbits play a minor role in the epidemiology and transmission of Lyme disease from animals to man in Flanders.