September 5, 2011 Joe Burrascano, Jr., MD has announced a new lab test available for Lyme doctors to use in determining if Lyme is present. There is no need to wait for antibodies to form since this is a culture-based test. This should provide much faster and more accurate detection, and allow Lyme patients to receive treatment as soon as possible. Please read below for Dr. Burrascano's description of the new test: In my work as a consultant, I have been working with a private lab located near Philadelphia, Advanced Laboratories, Inc. They wanted to develop a unique and high value test, and, with my interest in Lyme, I naturally encouraged them to work on a better Lyme Disease test.
As a result of some very intensive work on the part of a group of some very brilliant scientists, they have succeeded in developing a reliable and rapid blood culture for Borrelia! See the attached press release.
They actually have rolled out two separate panels- a basic one and an advanced one. In the basic panel, the blood sample is cultured and the positives are identified by histology and growth characteristics, and confirmed by fluorescent immunostaining. Positive reports will include a picture of the Bb growing in that very culture. The advanced panel will do this, but will also do PCR using well characterized and published DNA primer sets, and then all positive PCRs will be confirmed by DNA sequencing.
Remarkably, turn-around time can be as brief as ten days for the basic test, and seven to ten more days for the advanced panel.
This test is being rolled out gradually, with no big public announcements yet. That is why I am e-mailing you, so you can be among the first to be able to order this testing, before the lab gets swamped. Apparently you have to contact the lab to have test kits sent to you. The blood must be sent out the same day it is collected, and the lab provides a prepaid return FedEx mailer. As the lab is not yet accepting specimens over weekends, please do not collect blood on Fridays.
The bad news- New York being New York, this culture will not be available to NY State practitioners for several months. The States of California and Florida may have a delayed availability- I am not sure, so please contact the lab to get this info. However, all other states are OK.
I have no idea on pricing or on insurance issues- again, you will have to contact them for this info. The lab plans to have a booth at the conferences at LDA and at ILADS, so hopefully their presence will allow all to field questions.
The next step in their research is also equally exciting and ground breaking, but I am not at liberty to say yet what is being planned.
I will be travelling over the rest of this week, so I am afraid that I may not be able to answer any calls or e-mails until I get back, so if I do not respond to any contact efforts, please be patient.
As many of you recall, I learned the basics of true, clinical Lyme over 25 years ago thanks to Bb culturing that was available to me by Dr. Alan MacDonald. The new methods being used by this Pennsylvania lab go far beyond what MacDonald was able to do, so I am very excited to not only share this news with you, but I also cannot wait to see how it will change how we practice.
I also predict that Bb will be found in a lot of people, from mildly to severely ill, and that will redefine the role of the immunologist in Lyme to find out why some people recover and why others do not. Strain info as provided by the DNA sequencing data will be equally fascinating to follow.
So, enjoy the good news, and PLEASE, if you are going to begin culturing your patients, keep good records of your results. Data collection and tabulation has never been as important as it is now, with a quantum advance in testing technology.
Best wishes, from Dr. B................................!
quote:Originally posted by James1979: This is SO awesome!!! Thanks for posting this!! I'm gonna try to order a test kit on Monday, and maybe I'll learn some pricing info.
I bet those IDSA guys are crapping their pants right now!! It can't be "all in your head" if there's an accurate Lyme test.
I knew Dr B was up to something good! May God bless him abundantly.
No problem! It is SOOOO exciting. I am wondering what the other thing that is being worked on is!
The only problem is that to get accurate results you have to be off abx for 4 weeks.. I would hate to do that but I guess thats just what you have to do.
I bet the IDSA is crapping their pants like you said! HA to them
Posts: 574 | From Out there somewhere | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
But if Bb doesn't hang out in the blood for long, moving quickly to various tissues, how is this going to work?
Is it only for newly infected patients?
Or are they now saying that Bb IS in the blood after all?
And if it's not routinely in the blood won't this end up like a PCR, where you are fishing -- depending on luck whether or not the particular blood or tissue sample is infected?
I'm not getting why is this so great. What am I missing here?
Posts: 845 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by nomoremuscles: But if Bb doesn't hang out in the blood for long, moving quickly to various tissues, how is this going to work?
Is it only for newly infected patients?
Or are they now saying that Bb IS in the blood after all?
And if it's not routinely in the blood won't this end up like a PCR, where you are fishing -- depending on luck whether or not the particular blood or tissue sample is infected?
I'm not getting why is this so great. What am I missing here?
I am not sure..but Dr. Burrascano is pretty sure this is the best thing out there now. Also, it says you can test any fluid...
I am not sure if its only for newly infected patients.
Posts: 574 | From Out there somewhere | Registered: Jul 2010
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posted
Spirochetes are hard to culture, so it is interesting that they can do this in 10 days. And also agree that the issue of Bb residing mostly in tissues needs explaining....how that correlates with a blood test. Looking forward to more info.
Any lab that finds Bb better than others may be attacked by the same people who went after IGeneX.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Dr. B talked about this in May at the New Haven conference--great to hear that something is finally coming out; however, I too have questions regarding how this will detect if Bb has already moved into the tissues, etc. and whether or not this is just for newly exposed patients.
Will be interesting to hear how this progresses!
Thanks for posting--
Posts: 648 | From northeast | Registered: Feb 2009
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James1979
Unregistered
posted
I bet this would be especially useful for new Lyme patients who have never taken abx, who are wondering whether or not they have Lyme.
I imagine a situation where anyone catching a Summer "flu" would go to a PCP, and the PCP would automatically draw blood for doing this culture test.
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James1979
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posted
I'm guessing that this test and the lab will be bashed harshly for the next few years. The CDC/IDSA/Insurance Companies will be putting out statements that these newer tests are highly experimental and unsupported.
Also, the mainstream labs have new competition, and I'm sure they'll be producing their own studies showing how these new culture tests are "unreliable". The mainstream Lyme labs are making tons of money with Lyme testing. If I remember correctly, there are 3.4 million CDC-standard Lyme tests ordered every year in the USA. That's a LOT of money!
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quote:Originally posted by James1979: [QB] I bet this would be especially useful for new Lyme patients who have never taken abx, who are wondering whether or not they have Lyme.
I imagine a situation where anyone catching a Summer "flu" would go to a PCP, and the PCP would automatically draw blood for doing this culture test.
- On the other hand, if you were recently bitten you NEED TO BE ON ABX OR YOU WILL BE CHRONIC FOREVER!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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fflutterby
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 28081
posted
Praise God, this is going to be good. Thanks Dr. B !!!
-------------------- Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength Posts: 1367 | From North Jersey | Registered: Sep 2010
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-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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scorpiogirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 31907
posted
quote:Originally posted by lou: Spirochetes are hard to culture, so it is interesting that they can do this in 10 days. And also agree that the issue of Bb residing mostly in tissues needs explaining....how that correlates with a blood test. Looking forward to more info.
I have the same concern... so I'm waiting for more info as well.
-------------------- Posts: 1391 | From Lyme Land | Registered: May 2011
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canbravelyme
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Member # 9785
posted
Has anyone spoken with their LLMDs about this test?
What did they say?
-------------------- For medical advice related to Lyme disease, please see an ILADS physician. Posts: 1494 | From Getting there... | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
If this is a major breakthrough in testing, one of the major labs may just buy the rights to give the test. That could make it mainstream quickly.
I know, but I am an optimist by nature!
Great article! Thanks, MattH
Posts: 607 | From Houston Texas | Registered: Mar 2011
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scorpiogirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 31907
posted
My LLMD sent out a message today that they will have 50 kits w/in the next week or so. I asked for two to be sent to my house... but said I have to be off antibiotics for 4 weeks before doing the test.
So I will have to talk to them more tomorrow.
-------------------- Posts: 1391 | From Lyme Land | Registered: May 2011
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posted
This is great news. The next step is to find out how to kill it fast, and for good. The other issue...are normal dr.s going to be aware of this? If they aren't that kind of puts us back to sqaure one.
Posts: 433 | From new york | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Has anyone heard anything about whether it matters to the accuracy of this test how long ago a person was infected?
Posts: 204 | From ma | Registered: May 2007
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