posted
Does anyone offer a test for Lyme, babesiosis, and bartonella in which they look for active organisms in blood stains and if so how successful is such testing methods?
I like members of my family have lyme and also have tested positive for mycoplasma fermentans and would like to know if maybe, there is something else. Maybe it's enough, but I wonder.
Posts: 107 | From new jersey | Registered: Dec 2009
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lululymemom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 26405
posted
I've thought about this as well and as far as I know PCR testing is the only one and it's a hit and miss since they don't always catch the pathogen in the blood. We need better testing!
Bartonella henselae 1:100 Posts: 2027 | From British Columbia | Registered: Jun 2010
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
The existing testing methods to directly detect lyme and the coinfections are not very effective, as stated above. Here are some quotes from Burrascano Guidelines:
"PCR tests are now available, and although they are very specific, sensitivity remains poor, possibly less than 30%. This is because Bb causes a deep tissue infection and is only transiently found in body humors.
Therefore, just as in routine blood culturing, multiple specimens must be collected to increase yield; a negative result does not rule out infection, but a positive one is significant. You can test whole blood, buffy coat, serum, urine, spinal and other body fluids, and tissue biopsies. Several blood PCRs can be done, or you can run PCRs on whole blood, serum and urine simultaneously at a time of active symptoms. The patient should be antibioticfree for at least six weeks before testing to obtain the highest yield. Antigen capture is becoming more widely available, and can be done on urine, CSF, and synovial fluid.
Sensitivity is still low (on the order of 30%), but specificity is high (greater than 90%)." (pages 7-8)
"I strongly urge you to biopsy all unexplained skin lesions/rashes and perform PCR and careful histology. You will need to alert the pathologist to look for spirochetes." (page 8)
See page 23 for the various types of babs tests, including PCR.
Besides Igenex, there is also Medical Diagnostics Lab. They do comprehensive testing for lyme and many coinfections.
For bart, or BLO, you can also do the "vascular endothelial growth factor " (VEGF) test, per my lyme doctor. Elevated levels of VEGF often mean that a patient is infected with bartonella, according to him.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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