posted
Is it possible for someone infected in October of last year to have IgM present currently but no IgG?
Posts: 34 | From Boston, MA | Registered: Mar 2009
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seekhelp
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 15067
posted
ID docs will say no way. Everyone here will say sure.
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
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.
Posts: 199 | From utah | Registered: Jan 2009
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posted
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
Posts: 34 | From Boston, MA | Registered: Mar 2009
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"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."
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
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.
-------------------- Wildlife biologist working in tropics since 1997; tick bites in Nicaragua in March 2007, started getting sick May 2007; diagnosed with Lyme based on serological testing in Jan 2009; treatment starting Feb 2009. Wish me luck! Posts: 116 | From Seattle | Registered: Feb 2009
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