What is a Lyme disease test and which lab you must trust

Posted by Steve Harrington on March 3rd, 2020

A spiral-shaped bacteria (spirochete) called Borrelia Burgdorferi causes Lyme disease. The Lyme spirochete can cause multiple organs to become infected and produce a wide range of symptoms. Case reports describe the protean manifestations of Lyme disease in the medical literature, and experience with its diverse appearances is essential to identifying disseminated disease.

Fewer than 50 per cent of Lyme disease patients remember a tick bite. In some studies this number in culture-proven infection with Lyme spirochete is as small as 15 per cent.

More than 50 per cent of Lyme disease patients remember any rash. While erythema migrans (EM) or "bull's-eye" rash is considered classic, the early-localized Lyme infection is not the most common dermatologic manifestation. Atypical manifestations of this rash are far more often seen. It is important to know that the EM rash is Lyme disease pathognomonic and needs no further testing until commencing a suitable course of antibiotic therapy.

When used as part of a diagnostic test for Lyme disease, a laboratory that reads and records all the bands relevant to Borrelia Burgdorferi should do the western blot. Laboratories using FDA-approved kits (for example, the mardx marblot ) are prohibited from recording all the bands, as they must comply with the manufacturer's regulations. These rules are defined in compliance with the monitoring requirements of the CDC, which increase the risk of false-negative results. The commercial kits may be useful for tracking purposes, but they provide too little information for use in patient care.

Ticks are known as ectoparasites and belong to the class of arachnids. We feed on rodents, primates, birds and reptiles and amphibians ' blood at times. They can usually be found in grassy, shady and humid wooded areas. Once a tick bites a host it implants its hypostome, a piercing item with hooks to feed into the skin. Some of the tick-borne diseases are babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, bartonellosis, relapsing fever, Lyme disease and rickettsiosis. Every year, with more than 329,000 cases reported thousands are misdiagnosed, untreated and unnecessarily suffer. IGeneX was the number one study yet to produce the most detailed tests.

The research illustrates case history of five patients who were treated with long-term antibiotics for chronic Lyme disease. Septic shock, Clostridium difficile colitis, osteodiscitis, abscesses, and in two cases, death involved complications.

"These findings highlight the nature and extent of the adverse effects that could result from the use of clinical therapies with unproven Lyme disease," the report states. "In addition to the hazards associated with inappropriate use of antibiotics, such as the introduction of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, these treatments can lead to accidents involving unnecessary procedures... and missed opportunities to diagnose and treat the actual underlying cause of the symptoms of the patient."

Most US and European labs give only the B. Miyanotoi serological assay of GlpQ protein. IGeneX contains more recombinant antigens on the ImmunoBlot from several species of TBRF Borrelia thereby improving sensitivity. Fifty per cent of patients, if only B, are absent. Miyanotoi Uses GlpQ.

IGeneX, Lyme test specializes in immunology and research capacity offering modified service to over 1,000 private practice doctors, hospitals, and other clinical testing laboratories across the United States. In introducing new assays for diagnostic manufacturers, the laboratory also acts as a test site and has extensive collaboration agreements with multiple research groups.