Table 4.

Sensitivity of culture detection and PCR assays depending of the origin of clinical sample

Methods	Origin of clinical sample	Sensitivity range	References
Culture of B. burgdorferi	Skin biopsies from EM	40 – 90%	[36, 149, 151]
	Skin biopsies from ACA	20 – 60%	[36]
	Skin biopsies from Borrelial lymphocytoma	24 – 32%	[147]
	Synovial fluid/biopsy	< 1%	[36]
	Cerebrospinal fluid	10 – 26%	[29, 36]
	Blood	5 – 40%	[29, 36, 149]
	Urine	nd	[152]
Traditional PCR assays	Skin biopsies from EM	30 – 89%	[29, 153]
	Skin biopsies from ACA	20 – 100%
	Skin biopsies from Borrelial lymphocytoma	67.5%	[154]
	Synovial fluid/biopsy	40 – 96%	[36, 155, 156]
	Cerebrospinal fluid	5 – 30%	[36, 147, 155]
	Blood	10 – 20%
	Urine	nd	[152]

Nd not detectable