TABLE 2.

Cultivation of Lyme borreliae from clinical samples

Site	Representative culture yield (%) (reference[s])
	United States	Europe
Skin
Erythema migrans	>50a (25, 200, 204, 214, 227, 303, 327, 369)	≥40b (14, 31, 140, 165, 209, 237, 256, 333, 342, 380)
Acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans	NDh	≥22c (14, 258, 342)
Borrelial lymphocytoma	ND	24 (188)
Cerebrospinal fluid	ND	10d (60, 147, 237, 342)
Synovial fluid	Anecdotal	Anecdotal
Blood	>40e (367, 368)	1.2f to 9g (13, 189)

^aHighest reported yield, 86% (25).

^bHighest reported yield, 88% (342).

^cHighest reported yield, 60% (342).

^dHighest reported yield, 17% (342).

^ePlasma (high volume, ≥9 ml) of untreated adult United States patients with erythema migrans.

^fPlasma (low volume, ≤3 ml) of European adults with erythema migrans.

^gPlasma (low volume, <1 ml) of untreated European children with erythema migrans.

^hND, no data available.