At that time, an IRD team showed that in the rural area of Dakar (Senegal), “Lyme borreliosis was the most frequent reason for dispensary consultations after malaria”. So in 1990 the IRD launched a huge research programme on this disease in the country, which was later extended to all of West Africa.

Between 1990 and 2003, a team studied the disease in Dielmo, a Senegalese village. Throughout this period, 11% of the population suffered from borreliosis each year, which is an exceptional level of incidence. The researchers also discovered that this disease caused recurrent fever in the long term which could result in serious meningoencephalitis, which was sometimes fatal. Symptoms exactly similar to those of malaria. The disease is thus systematically confused with the latter. Which explains, of course, why there has been so much failure in terms of treatment since treatment for malaria is not effective against borreliosis. Only tetracycline antibiotics produce results.

Diagnosis is also made difficult by the problem of detecting Borrelia crocidurae, the bacteria responsible for the disease. It is not “detectable in the blood except during attacks of fever. Laboratory examinations are rarely possible in tropical Africa, in particular in rural areas.| Destination santé