I plan on getting a PCR test from clongen labs to test for 20 different species of bartonella and mycoplasma but I was wondering I if i should be ON or OFF antibiotics prior to the test?
Apparently being on antibiotics can release some of the dead bacteria into the blood thus increasing a positive yield but I'm not sure if this is true or not.
SOmeone with experience in this please HELP!!!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Posted by Selection10 (Member # 19578) on :
Also on clongen's requisition they don't have a blood mount / blood smear that LymeMD talks about. How do I get this test added?
He mentions Ribosomal DNA 16S sequencing - what is this??? How is it ordered? Anyone know the cost or how to get it done?
Posted by jackie81 (Member # 27031) on :
Hi I am interested in this clongen lab you are talking about. I noticed you are from Canada and I am curious as to how you are going about getting tested for this.
Do they send you a testing kit like Igenex does? I would be interested in getting the 20 species of Bartonella tested.
Does anyone have any input about this lab?
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
I'm pretty sure I saw the requisition for that when I got a kit from them at one point. I think it's called the "wet mount and blood smear" or something like that. Yes, they send a kit, but your doctor needs to approve it just like iGenex.
The 20-species test is a PCR, which means that positives are considered very accurate but negatives don't mean a whole lot (ie if the sample of blood didn't have any organisms, as sometimes happens with babesia testing, you won't get any results).
The 16S sequencing is something the lab was doing to try and identify an organism they've been seeing in some of our blood- and they didn't get very far with identifying it beyond figuring out that it's related to some other organisms. It's not a test that you get done as a patient, it's more like medical research that they were doing to try and identify what in the world they were physically seeing on the wet mount/blood smear.
The wet mount is $100 and if they see anything, you get results that tell you that they saw protozoa or bacteria in the blood, but it doesn't tell you exactly what those bacteria or protozoa are- because no one knows exactly yet.
It's probably a good test if you're 'broke' and can't afford to test for both babesia and bartonella but have symptoms of both. It's what I did to try and sort out what I might have.
Posted by MariaA (Member # 9128) on :
OK, I just looked at the requisition form- the blood smear and wet mount isn't on there, but if you call them, they'll tell you how to order the kit for it.
Posted by Selection10 (Member # 19578) on :
So anyone know if it is better to be on or off antibiotics when testing using PCR?
Posted by hopingandpraying (Member # 9256) on :
I think you are required to be off antibiotics for any type of testing, as it would probably affect the results. The best thing for you to do would be to contact Clongen and ask them about this.