ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT02463942TBE-LB2014Updated Oct 16, 2018

Tick-borne Encephalitis and Positive Borrelial Antibodies

An interventional study of Doxycycline and Symptomatic therapy in Tick-borne Encephalitis, sponsored by University Medical Centre Ljubljana. Status unknown at 1 site in Slovenia. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-10-16.

Sponsored by University Medical Centre Ljubljana · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified May 2018), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
100
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

In Slovenia, tick-borne encephalitis and Lyme borreliosis are both endemic diseases with high incidence rates and they are both transmitted by a bite of infected Ixodes ricinus tick. In clinical practice, tick-borne encephalitis is confirmed by demonstration of tick-borne encephalitis antibodies in serum of a patient with compatible clinical presentation and cerebrospinal pleocytosis. Patients with Lyme meningitis or meningoradiculitis also have cerebrospinal pleocytosis, however the presence of borrelial antibodies in serum does not attest Lyme neuroborreliosis.

Patients with tick-borne encephalitis and positive borrelial antibodies in serum, but not fulfilling criteria for Lyme neuroborreliosis, are often being treated with antibiotics in several European countries due to the possibility of double infection. The investigators hypothesise that such patients do not benefit from antibiotics. Such an approach may appear safe regarding the possibility of borrelial infection, however it can also be associated with detrimental consequences such as antibiotic related adverse reactions, negative epidemiological impact on bacterial resistance, and intravenous catheter related complications.

02

Conditions studied

  • Tick-borne Encephalitis
03

In context

Encephalitis, Tick-Borne

51 studies on the registry are indexed under Encephalitis, Tick-Borne; 9 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 100 is below the median of 192 across 32 interventional studies indexed under Encephalitis, Tick-Borne.

Browse Encephalitis, Tick-Borne studies →

Lead sponsor

University Medical Centre Ljubljana is the lead sponsor of 296 studies on the registry; 72 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • 18 years or older
  • clinical picture compatible with tick-borne encephalitis,
  • clear cerebrospinal fluid,
  • cerebrospinal pleocytosis (leucocytes in cerebrospinal fluid >5 x 106/)L,
  • positive serum immunoglobulin M (IgM) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against tick-borne encephalitis virus,
  • positive serum IgG antibodies against Lyme borreliae.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • isolation of B.burgdorferi sensu lato from cerebrospinal fluid,
  • positive intrathecal borrelial antibody production index,
  • seroconversion of borrelial IgG antibodies,
  • presence of erythema migrans and/or borrelial lymphocytoma in the last month,
  • Bannwarth syndrome.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
100 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    Doxycycline, Doxy®

    Beside symptomatic therapy, patients will receive oral doxycycline 100 mg (Doxy®) twice daily. Patients will answer a questionnaire asking about the presence and frequency of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia.

    Drug: Doxycycline

  • Other
    No antibiotics

    Patients will receive symptomatic therapy (paracetamol, Lekadol®, granisetron, Kytril®, metamizol, Analgin®, parenteral hydration with saline). Patients will answer a questionnaire asking about the presence and frequency of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia.

    Drug: Symptomatic therapy · Other: Questionnaire

  • Other
    Healthy controls

    Patients will be asked to refer a spouse to serve as a control. If unmarried they will be asked to refer a family member or a friend of +/- 5 years to serve as a control. Control subjects will be asked to answer a questionnaire asking about the presence and frequency of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia.

    Other: Questionnaire

Interventions

  • Beside symptomatic therapy, patients will receive oral Doxycycline 100 mg, Doxy® twice daily.

  • DrugSymptomatic therapy

    Patients will receive symptomatic therapy with antipyretics, analgetics, antiemetics, and parenteral hydration: metamizole, Analgin®, paracetamol, Lekadol®, thiethylperazine, Kytril®, saline.

  • OtherQuestionnaire

    Subjects will be asked to answer a questionnaire asking about the presence and frequency of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Objective manifestations of Lyme borreliosis

    Time frame: one year

  2. Frequency of nonspecific symptoms such as headache, fatigue, arthralgia, myalgia

    Time frame: one year

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • UMC Ljubljana, Department of Infectious Diseases
    Ljubljana, 1525, Slovenia
    Recruiting
    • Daša Stupica, MD, PhD · Contactdasa.stupica@kclj.si · +386 1 522 2110
    • Franc Strle, MD, PhD · Contactfranc.strle@kclj.si · +386 1 522 2610
    • Daša Stupica, MD, PhD · Principal investigator
08

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Sep 2014, a primary completion of Sep 2020 and a completion of Sep 2020. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 20, 2014
First posted
Jun 4, 2015
Start
Sep 2014
Primary completionEst.
Sep 2020
CompletionEst.
Sep 2020
Last update
Oct 16, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Oct 16, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02463942
Collaborators
University of Ljubljana School of Medicine, Slovenia
Responsible party
Franc Strle (MD, PhD, University Medical Centre Ljubljana) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jun 4, 2015
Start date
Sep 2014
Primary completion
Sep 2020 (estimated)
Completion
Sep 2020 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 16, 2018

Study contacts

Daša Stupica, MD, PhD
Contact
dasa.stupica@kclj.si
+386 1 5222110
Franc Strle, MD, PhD
Contact
franc.strle@kclj.si
+386 1 5222610

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in May 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Studies of the drug tested here: Doxycycline

Start the discussion