Borrelia miyamotoi sensu lato seroreactivity and seroprevalence in the northeastern United States.
[CanLyme note: More evidence that the current two tier testing model imposed upon Canadians is incapable of detecting the genetic diversity of Borrelia we have, just as Health Canada published 1.5 years ago, yet Infectious Disease doctors, including paediatricians refuse to see anyone without a positive two tier test… stunningly unethical and ‘to hell with the patient, it is our opinion that counts’. The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) in Vancouver, Canada, assured patient groups in several meetings that, don’t worry, our two tier test is picking up everything… such bad information, and it was the patient groups who were trying to show them then that the research indicated otherwise. The BC CDC was repeatedly asked for their published evidence to support their assurances but of course they provided nothing as they always have, because they had nothing or hid what they did know, again.
“B. burgdorferi antibody testing is not (CanLyme emphasis) an effective surrogate for detecting B. miyamotoi sensu lato infection.”]
Krause PJ, Narasimhan S, Wormser GP, Barbour AG, Platonov AE, Brancato J, et al.
Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2014 July [located on the internet, May 8, 2014].
Abstract
Borrelia miyamotoi sensu lato, a relapsing fever Borrelia sp., is transmitted by the same ticks that transmit B. burgdorferi (the Lyme disease pathogen) and occurs in all Lyme disease-endemic areas of the United States. To determine the seroprevalence of IgG against B. miyamotoi sensu lato in the northeastern United States and assess whether serum from B. miyamotoi sensu lato-infected persons is reactive to B. burgdorferi antigens, we tested archived serum samples from area residents during 1991–2012. Of 639 samples from healthy persons, 25 were positive for B. miyamotoi sensu lato and 60 for B. burgdorferi. Samples from ≈10% of B. miyamotoi sensu lato-seropositive persons without a recent history of Lyme disease were seropositive for B. burgdorferi.
Our results suggest that human B. miyamotoi sensu lato infection may be common in southern New England and that B. burgdorferi antibody testing is not an effective surrogate for detecting B. miyamotoi sensu lato infection.
CanLyme is doing a great job informing those that want to be informed. What is wrong with our doctors not keeping an open mind that there are things that we do not know. But this we know, our ELISA testing is inadequate (and I am moderate in my statement) and here in New Brunswick we use two different but both inadequate versions of this test. This article together with the Dibernardo etal article in Parasites and Vectors (also 2014) makes a great case for the fact that testing is inadequate and doctors should not rely on testing. BUT THEY STILL DO. How can we break this crazy cycle? We need to find some champions within the medical world that are willing to think just a little bit outside the box of earlier training and the things that big pharma tells us.
Ironically this morning on CBC there was a rather lengthy segment on the Current about dementia and only at the end someone talked about how little we know abou the causes of neurological illnesses in general. Is no one connecting the dots?