The recent diagnosis available for Lyme disease
There are no definitive tests for Lyme disease. Existing tests, based on detecting antibodies to the disease, are known to show false positives and false negatives. For reporting purposes only, the CDC requires a positive ELISA test, to be confirmed by a positive Western Blot, but this procedure can miss as many as 44% of cases. Not every person makes sufficient antibodies to Lyme to show up in these tests, especially if they have been infected by more than one disease by the same tick.
Other circumstances can contribute to false negatives. Typically, it takes 6 weeks to develop antibodies to Lyme, so a test taken before 6 weeks is likely to be negative. If a patient waits 6 weeks before consulting a doctor, however, the disease will have the chance to spread throughout the body, making a cure more difficult. If a patient has taken antibiotics, this will also delay the production of antibodies to Lyme.
You may be asking yourself since when did Lyme disease become an epidemic? After all, an epidemic is a rapid spread or increase in the occurrence of a disease. Lyme disease cannot be that widespread? Or can it? Did you know that Lyme disease was almost non-existent before the 1970s? How many cases are there now?
Know the numbers about Lyme disease? Each year, 16,000 new cases of Lyme disease are reported. (Unfortunately, many more do not get reported or treated until it is too late.) Millions of people could mistake it for some other ailment and the symptoms only worsen. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) affirms that "there is considerable under-reporting" of Lyme disease, and maintains that the actual infection rate may be 1.8 million, 10 times higher than the current 180,000 reported. Dan Kinderleher, M.D., an expert on Lyme disease, stated on the Today Show in 2002 that the number of cases may be 100 times higher (18 million in the U.S. alone) than reported by the CDC.
Could I have Lyme disease? Â As stated earlier, Lyme Disease is often left undiagnosed or untreated because symptoms of Lyme are often mistaken for some other health problem. Fortunately, thousands of people are being treated...however, thousands are NOT being treated for lyme disease. Have you been in a forested/nature area (a mecca for ticks!) in the past week(s), month(s) or year(s)?
Do you have the following symptoms? Consistent or recurring headache Flu-like symptoms Muscle stiffness Aching muscles Fatigue for no particular reason Unique enlarging rash (similar shape to a bulls-eye)
A Natural Treatment for Lyme disease Many professionals feel that current treatments of Lyme disease, while effective, are inadequate and incomplete. Current pharmaceutical treatments, though highly effective against the causes and symptoms of Lyme disease, also wage a war against an infected individual's immune system. This creates symptoms which are listed above. In other words, you do NOT have to suffer from the harsh side-effects from Lyme Disease Medication. There are differing figures on how many patients get a rash, ranging from 40 to 75%. A bull’s eye rash is proof positive of Lyme, but rashes do not always form a clear bull’s eye.
DNA Connexions is a Biosafety Level 2 Laboratory with a CLIA license encompassing the following specialities: bacteriology, mycology, virology, routine chemistry and toxicology testing. DNA Connexions IGenex, Inc. offers a Western Blot test that is more sensitive than the Western Blot tests from either LabCorp or Quest. Greater sensitivity means it is more likely to detect other strains of Bb. A positive result to this test may not be acceptable to the CDC as a reportable case; however, it should confirm a clinical diagnosis of Lyme. You can obtain a test kit directly from their website www.IGenex.com, but a doctor will have to submit it with your sample to the lab. If you cannot find a physician to do this for you, try searching at AnyLabTestNow.com. IGenex has announced on October 29th 2017 the development of three new tests, two for Lyme disease and one for tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF).
According to IGenex, the new Lyme ImmunoBlot IgM & IgG has better specificity compared to the traditional Western Blot, 98% for IgM and 98.7 for IgG, and is 90.9% sensitive with well-defined samples. It has better sensitivity because it is designed to detect antibodies to major B. burgdorferi sensu lato specific antigens from North America and European strains: B. burgdorferi B31, B. burgdorferi 297, B. californiensis, B. mayonii, B. afzelii, B. garinii, B. spielmanii, B. valaisiana.DNA Connexions is one of the more accurate Lyme disease tests on the market today.
The Lyme IGXSpot is an Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSpot (ELISPOT) assay that detects human T cells reactive to B. burgdorferi specific antigens in vitro. ELISPOT is a widely used method for detecting and monitoring cellular immune responses to specific antigens. It detects specific T-cell responses soon after B. burgdorferi infection, when antibodies to the organisms are not detectable or late in the disease, when the levels of antibodies are very low, so combined with Lyme ImmunoBlot tests, patient’s full spectrum of immune response to infection & disease stage is available. The IGenex Lab also notes it is especially useful to seronegative patients.
The TBRF ImmunoBlot is designed to detect antibodies to specific antigens of tick-borne relapsing fever Borrelia in human serum– antibodies to B. hermsii, B. miyamotoi, B. turicatae and B. coriaceae. Based on in-house studies, these blots detect antibodies to North American, European and Australian strains of TBRF Borrelia in patient serum samples. The specificity of the TBRF ImmunoBlot is 94% and 98% for IgM and IgG respectively, according to the lab.
Coppe Labs has announced the development of commercial tests for Powassan virus, an emerging virus transmitted by the same deer tick that transmits Lyme disease bacteria. A direct PCR test and indirect serologic tests are now available. Doctors now have access to these tests for patients, especially those in known areas for Powassan exposure. Coppe Labs
This IGenex lab test is important because clinical research has shown that the Powassan virus can be transmitted to humans within 15 minutes of a tick-bite and can be fatal in 10% or more of cases. Those who survive can be left with debilitating neurologic conditions. There are currently no specific treatments for Powassan, palliative care is administered.