Hello, My 4 year old recently received a positive IFA for bartonella IGG from Igenex (along with a positive Western Blot IGG).
I wonder how common (or uncommon) it is to get a positive bartonella IFA? <40 was positive and his was 80.
Also, is there a chance of false positive for bartonella IFA?
I appreciate it Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Many people who test positive for lyme through Igenex also test positive for bartonella and babesiosis. In fact, having all 3 diseases is the most common occurrence--to the point that lyme doctors call this "the big 3".
False positives basically don't exist.
If a person has lyme, they nearly ALWAYS also have babesiosis and bartonella, and sometimes ehrlichia and EBV and many other illnesses also.
Ticks are chock full of diseases nowadays. So, the tick bite doesn't generally give you just one disease.
I suggest you study the Burrascano Guidelines found here:
He talks about this throughout.
Posted by jep1978 (Member # 48252) on :
Great, thanks. I realize that these are common co-infections with Lyme, but for some reason I thought it was uncommon to get a positive bartonella test and it was more of a clinical diagnosis. Thanks for clearing that up Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Often it is a clinical diagnosis for lyme AND for all of the coinfections as the tests are not very reliable. That means that they miss a lot of cases of infection. A positive, however, can be relied upon.
My lyme doc ordered 2 different bart tests for me and 2 different babs tests (through Igenex). I was positive on one for each coinfection and negative on one for each coinfection. I had a positive FISH for babesiosis.
This is not an antibody test. Instead, the lab technician looks at your red blood cells under a high-powered microscope looking for the babs parasite in your red blood cells. In my case, they found enough to report a positive result.
My other babs test, which was negative, was ignored as obviously incorrect.
Since the tests are not reliable, a smart doctor orders at least 2 different tests for each disease in the hope of getting a true result on at least one.
Any positive, in the face of symptoms, is considered a true positive and the negatives are considered false negatives.
The Western Blot is an antibody test (it looks for antibodies to the disease, not the bacteria itself), so if you have antibodies to any of these diseases, it indicates you have had exposure. If you have symptoms and have never been treated for that disease, then you have active infection.
IFA is an antibody test also.
Since the FISH uses just a tiny sample of blood, it is possible to not have any babs in the sample and thus get a negative result when you really do have babs. So, as you can see, each type of test has its limitations.
Was the child tested for babs by FISH?
I know many people who get positive results for all 3 diseases and many who don't even though they have the symptoms of these diseases. Both results are common as far as I am concerned.
Posted by jep1978 (Member # 48252) on :
Thanks so much, yes the same child who had the positive IFA bart also had a negative bart FISH. My other child and myself had negative for all bart. I had equivocal IFA for babs (40). My other child had a positive "hemobartonella" from Fry labs in the past. I got a strong positive for Erlichiosis. We all have positive WB's. I am assuming they got these issues from me in the womb. Thanks so much!
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