I used to be a phlebotomist (vampire) in PA, and I was working as such back in 1995. At that time, the law still required that all couples be tested for syphilis by RPR prior to marrying.
I'm not sure what year this occurred, but some time after 1995 and before 1997, the state of PA dropped this 'outdated' law requiring couples to be tested for syphilis.
I find the time span during which this law was changed rather interesting, don't you?
Does anyone here know the exact year that PA dropped this requirement? Did any other states follow suit? If you know for a fact that RPRs for syphilis are still required in your state (or are no longer required), please respond.
Finally, do you think perhaps this law was changed because people with Lyme were reacting on the premarital RPR for syphilis and insurance companies were worried they'd have to pay to treat more Lyme cases?
I only worked as a phlebotomist, so I don't know anything about how the test was actually run. Thanks!
Posted by dmc (Member # 5102) on :
in 2003, I tested negative with premartial test...one month later tested positive for lyme.
Posted by Karenelee (Member # 11044) on :
One of the positive bands on my Western blot could have been caused by lyme OR syphillis, or Epstein Bar, or Herpes.
My doctor had me tested for all of those, and they all came back negative -- except the Epstein Bar showed that I did have it some time in the past. The Mono I had in High school?
So I don't think that the syphillis tests were stopped so lyme would not be detected.
Besides, the docs are way too good at simply ignoring lyme.
K
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
I know I was tested for syphilis numerous times. In fact, they used to test me for that quite frequently early on. It was always negative.
I did react on a mono test - I was told I was in the convalescent stage (recuperating).