Is it possible for someone infected in October of last year to have IgM present currently but no IgG?
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
ID docs will say no way. Everyone here will say sure.
Posted by bwillis (Member # 18811) on :
IgM indicates recent immune activity whereas IgG indicates long term immune activity. If you are chronic with any infection your immune system will cycle through times of greater activity and then go down. ID doctors know this they just hope their patients are ignorant to it.
If your IgM is positive now it means recently your immune system has responded to some pathogen.
Posted by Kevin V-910 (Member # 19624) on :
OK. After i got bit in October i got 2 straight days of Rocephrin IV antibiotics then 10 days of augmentin. started feeling better. Started feeling like crap again about 2 months ago so I'm just trying to figure out the timeline
Posted by Kevin V-910 (Member # 19624) on :
any other opinions on this? please help
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
"With most infections, your immune system first forms IgM antibodies, then in about 2 to 4 weeks, you see IgG antibodies. In some infections, IgG antibodies may be detectable for years.
Because Borrelia burgdorferi is a chronic persistent infection that may last for decades, you would think patients with chronic symptoms would have positive IgG Western blots.
But actually, more IgM blots are positive in chronic borreliosis than IgG. Every time Borrelia burgdorferi reproduces itself, it may stimulate the immune system to form new IgM antibodies.
Some patients have both IgG and IgM blots positive. But if either the IgG or IgM blot is positive, overall it is a positive result.
Response to antibiotics is the same if either is positive, or both."
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
up for Kevin
Posted by kimwg (Member # 19094) on :
My doc says that it is possible to be IgM positive even after many months due to "epitope switching" by the Borrelia -- basically, the bacteria is able to rotate the positioning of certain proteins in the cell wall, and the immune system interprets this as a new infection.