OBJECTIVETo understand the clinical characteristics of Lyme disease in children.

METHODSCase records of 30 children with Lyme disease who were admitted to the pediatric department of Forest Hospital, Inner Mongolia from May 1995 to Oct. 2000, were reviewed. Twenty-one cases were male and 9 were female. Their age ranged from 2 to 14 years. The possible factors associated with the onset, incubation period, clinical manifestations of the organ systems and response to treatment were analyzed.

RESULTSEach of the 30 cases had a history of tick bite for one time or more. The incubation period was 1 to 14 days. All of them were hospitalized for typical erythema migrans. Among the 30 cases, 21 (70%) showed symptoms of acute upper respiratory tract infection; 4 (13%) showed circulatory system symptom and manifestations of myocardial lesion; 3 (10%) had joint pain; 1 case (3%) had eye symptom and another case (3%) had nervous system symptoms, such as headache, vomiting, drowsiness, neck stiffness and so on. EEG and spinal fluid test showed some abnormal results. All the 30 cases were positive for IgG antibody to Lyme spirochetes with titers higher than 1:128. Penicillin or cefazolin was effective in treatment of the patients.

CONCLUSIONThe incubation period of the disease observed among this series of patients was 1-14 d. Lyme disease in this group of patients involved multiple organ systems while erythema migrans and arthralgia were the most frequently seen manifestations. Most of the patients had a favorable outcome with no sequelae.