I know Lyme and Bart both seem to be strictly clinical diagnoses.
Had poked around here and there and it seemed like if you had a positive Babs test you could go ahead and diagnose. Is that correct?
My LLMD (I randomly came in to see him for something else initially) says I have symptoms, but to me most of the symptoms I have seem pretty everyday, can be explained away pretty easily, or are quite variable.
For that reason I'm stuck putting most of my faith in my blood work and Tests (I know...I picked the wrong disease to do that with). I would love to have something that "stuck" to tie everything else to.
Thank you for your comments.
I will ask him as well when I see him, but you know how it is. In between appts all I do is sit and think about this/try and figure it out. =)
[ 05-01-2009, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Flyinpiker ]
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
anyone? on page 2
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
Since there are 13+ known strains of babesia,
And even Igenex Fish only can look for two of them,
A negative test doesn't mean you don't have babesia.
However, you may get a positive test.
My LLMD treats babesia based on symptoms.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by Flyinpiker (Member # 19589) on :
Thank you for the replies!
A Quest test in 2006 showed:
<1:256 for WA1 IgG Antibody IFA
The scale was: <1:256 Antibody not detected > or = 1:256 Antibody dectected
I'm not exactly sure how read these but can it be interpreted as borderline or do you simply match <1:256 and <1:256 and it is negative.
A IgeneX Babesia Antibody Panel in 2008 showed:
B Duncani IGM: 1:40 Titer
B Duncani IGG: 1:160 Titer
Honestly I have no idea on how to read the results of these test. The Interpretation table seems to be all over the place and is not very clear (or I'm not very bright). Maybe those of you with the Igenex scale on your tests can help.
Is my IGM: Suggests infection of unknown duration?
and IGG: May suggest evidence of infection?
Thanks for the help!
One last question (original question from above). Can Babs be diagnosed with strictly a test or is it clinical? Posted by Nexis (Member # 19780) on :
I have Babesia Duncani(WA version), and your test results can be interpreted in different ways. Personally though I am not a physician, looking at the Igenex results table:
Both your IGM and IGG "May suggest evidence of an infection. If samples within last 6 months...etc" as the table says on the Igenex lab report.
The problem with Babesia is from what I have talked with ID experts/Igenex Lab is that there are people who are carriers who are asymptomatic, those who were previously infected, yet had a mild case and recovered, and others who have had it chronically, and other who had Babesia in dormant stages, and merges out years after.
Overall, once you have the Babesia from what I had been told, is that there will always be some kind of an "auto-immune" response once being infected. You become "immune" over time, yet our body still gives a active response in terms of the IFA testing. So you your case its difficult to say if you currently have it active, had it in the past 6 months, or a asymptomatic carrier, or like me had it dormant for years and have an "Suggested active state infection (My IGG is 1:80)
That is the reason why its better to get it treated/looked into professsionally and make sure that a full course of treatment/consultation is given because the IFA test results have various interpretation, not to mention why there is the FISH test, plus the PCR test.
Yet what if you have a PCR or/and a FISH test positive its most likely that you have am active infection. I only tested positive for the FISH, and my DR who's not a LLMD says that this FISH testing which detects the RNA is a good indication(RNA testing is used in other conditions) that the Babesia is actually in your blood/system, instead of the IFA being activated alone.
Finally its better to get a LLMD opinion because there's so much conflicting opinions and treatment to these tick-borne illness.
Posted by NMN (Member # 11007) on :
I had negative FISH and my LLMD (one of the big boys) clinically diagnosed it with me due to air hunger and response to Artemsinin.
That diagnosis was confirmed a bit more recently with night sweats in response to high doses of malarone over a 5 day period.
I think we are moving towards mepron next with malarone and art in high doses. I will let you know what happens.