Testing

Diagnosing Lyme disease is extremely challenging. Lyme victims are commonly misdiagnosed with other illnesses, and, when a proper diagnosis is made, it’s often difficult to verify because accurate testing isn’t available.

Diagnostic tests

Some doctors base their diagnosis on the presence of the classic “bull’s-eye” rash, and don’t require further tests. Others doctors require laboratory confirmation before treatment. A “bull’s eye” rash indicates Lyme infection, and must be treated immediately to avoid infection! If your doctor won’t schedule antibiotics immediately, go to another doctor.

Test results aren’t always accurate

False negatives are common when testing for Lyme, and false positives are also possible (though less common). Experienced doctors recommend that Lyme disease be diagnosed clinically, meaning they base the diagnosis on an evaluation of both your risk level (based on whether you live, work or frequent tick-infested areas) and your symptoms.

Doctors aren’t always right

There is a lot of misinformation and myths circulating about Lyme disease. Even in the medical community, Lyme disease is widely misunderstood. It’s important to get all the facts before visiting your doctor, so you can better ensure accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Lymphocyte transformation (Elispot)

Armin Labs “Borrelia infections do not only show humoral immune responses by antibodies, but can activate T-lymphocytes at the same time. Once Borrelia burgdorferi is not active anymore, the T-cellular immune response should vanish.”

Antibody tests

The human immune system responds to bacteria by creating antibodies to fight against infection. Antibody tests measure the body’s response to a specific bacterial infection.

Igenex Inc. in California  Igenex uses more than one strain of the bacteria as the basis of their test, and, they are the only laboratory we are aware of that uses a human derived strain as opposed to a tick derived strain.  This human strain may be significant as to why more Canadians are getting well after a positive Igenex test, followed then by aggressive treatment.  “Western blot” is the most accurate antibody test. ELISA tests are not sensitive enough for screening, and miss the infection often. When talking to your doctor, request the Western blot test specifically.

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Other tests

There are two other tests used to diagnose Lyme disease: PCR and Antigen

  1. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): While PCR is highly accurate when the Lyme DNA is detected, this test does produce many false negatives. This is because Lyme bacteria are sparse and may not be in the sample tested.
  2. Antigen tests: Antigen detection tests look for a unique Lyme protein in body fluids (e.g. blood, urine, joint fluid). People who test negative on other indirect tests may test positive on this test.