I copied this entry from "Dr. C's Western Blot" explanation:
"The CDC recommendations do not include the 31 and 34 Kda bands of the blot test. These two bands correspond to outer surface proteins A and B respectively (ospA and ospB).
In the world of borreliosis, these are two of the classic hallmark Lyme antibodies. But the CDC does not even have them in their recommendations. "
My question......for what reason/s did the CDC omit these from their criteria?
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
The CDC criteria is for reporting and tracking infection, not for diagnostic purposes.
The 31 band appears positive in somebody who had the Lyme vaccine. The CDC wanted to make sure that they didn't report people who do not have Lyme, but received the vaccine. So they did not include it in their criteria.
I'm not sure about 34.
The problem is, everybody decided to go and use the CDC criteria for diagnosis.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by mceline:
My question......for what reason/s did the CDC omit these from their criteria?
Read the entire link including all responses.
I believe it's MichelleM's reply that answers this question thoroughly.
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
Actually, I believe osp A was used for lymerix (vaccine) band 31. Osp B was intended
For use for development of future bands, i.e. band 34.
Thus, the CDC and FDA got together and decided not to count them.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by mceline (Member # 9235) on :
"Read the entire link including all responses." ------------------------------------------------------- I did not see the link.........is it there and I am missing it?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Well....My memory is not as good as I thought!! I thought she had explained it. I think Alig. Bruce explains it pretty well here:
"More info from Aligondo Bruce:
Now, let me tell you about the real DARK SIDE of the steere/dressler criteria.
These criteria were designed to enable one thing: a vaccine trial for the OspA vaccine. That's why the band to OspA at 31 KdA was left out of the criteria for positivity, even though it is very specific to Bb.
Why then was it necessary to distort the importance of the flagellin response? I'll tell you why. It's because they had to test the vaccine in an endemic area. And a significant percentage of vaccinees were ALREADY SHOWING seropositivity to Bb exposure and possible latent/asymptomatic infection as manifested by the 41 band and maybe a few others, but not enough to be 'positive' by CDC standards. {remember, in europe 3 bands = I have lyme disease, in the US, 3 bands = normal}.
In other words, they had to run a vaccine trial on a group of people who had already been exposed or infected by Bb. If you utilize scientifically honest criteria, then YOU CAN'T DO THE TRIAL, BECAUSE A LARGE NUMBER OF YOUR VACCINEES ARE ALREADY INFECTED OR EXPOSED BEFORE THEY EVER GET THE VACCINE.
So by using less restrictive criteria, you create a situation in which there is no way to distinguish whether or not the vaccine is effective. Basically, a lot of people got a worthless vaccine.
this paradigm...which plunged thousands of vaccinees from infected areas into an unknown realm {what happens when you vaccinate someone who has already been exposed, or is manifesting late stage latency} and MAY have been the reason we saw so many reports of adverse reactions.
Individuals who were carrying latent infection, as manifested serologically by a limited ab response, these people were CUT OUT of the medical community, and they had to pretend nothing was wrong with them. And with lyme encephalopathy, Bb protein expression primarily in brain years after initial exposure, that has never been studied adequately to know what is signficant and what is not. All we really know is that flagellin is constitutively expressed even in brain infection."