has anyone ever had a false positive through igenex labs?
Posted by 1Bitten2XShy (Member # 12280) on :
How is one to know they have a false positive? Lyme imitates so many other things...not really sure you could tell you have a "false positive".
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
it is common for mainstream docs to call ANY Lyme positive a false positive because they are idiots when it comes to TBDs. No offense*)!
And WELCOME to LymeNet*)!!!!!!!!! !*)!*)*!)!*)!*)!*)!*)!*)!
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
It is POSSIBLE, though not likely. If you did a standard Western Blot and want to confirm further, IGeneX has a 30/31 confirmation test that may provide more validation of the result. You may want to contact them to discuss.
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
i've never heard of igenex getting a false positive. they're supposed to be the best....
Posted by improver (Member # 8380) on :
I keep running into this problem. Regular doctors have told some people that their Igenex results must be a false positive. My question then is what do they have that these doctors cannot find, that makes them produce these antibodies and have these symptoms ????
Posted by asus (Member # 13881) on :
I suppose a test could be called a "false positive" if someone who met the criteria for a positive test had no reaction whatsoever to a trial of treatment. That is, they had no herx, no improvement, etc...
It would be interesting for IGENEX to track response to treatment according to their positive results. Essentially to test the ability of their supposedly "less strict" criteria to predict clinical response.
There have been Lyme doctors who have claimed that anyone with a single lyme specific band and lyme symptoms is something like 90% likely to respond to lyme treatment... I have not seen this actually published anywhere, so I don't know the accuracy of the statement...
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
From ILADS research:
"Engstrom et al.2 and Aguero-Rosenfeld et al.3,4 confirmed that almost one-third of all Lyme patients are IgG negative during the first year.
Two years after a physician-diagnosed EM, 45% of the patients were negative by ELISA. In another study, Aguero-Rosenfeld et al. showed that the ELISA response declined much more rapidly than the Western blot response.4
Their study also demonstrated that the two-step protocol of the CDC/ASPHLD criteria would fail to confirm infection in some patients with culture-proven EM. Furthermore, although a majority (89%) of patients with the EM rash developed IgG antibodies by Western blot sometime during disease, only 22% were positive by the criteria of the CDC/ASPHLD.4
The Engstrom et al. study did not use the IgG blot criteria of the CDC/ASPHLD.2 They found that 2 of 5 bands gave them a specificity of 93 to 96% and a sensitivity of 100% in the 70% of patients that produced antibody. This could imply an even lower sensitivity would be obtained had the more stringent CDC/ASPHLD criteria been used as a guideline for laboratory screening."
Bottom line: "False positive" is a load of BS from doctors who do not understand lyme disease.
They fail to recognize that certain bands can only appear from lyme infection and nothing else.
They are quick to mock and belittle IGeneX due mainly to their own dogged adherence to the IDSA guidelines in order to save face.
Actual scientists, patients, and LLMD's know better.
The "claimed" false positives are because (a) they couldn't diagnose it correctly themselves or (b) they simply are too stupid to do some research, leaving patients to fend for themselves or suffer the consequences.
(But ask me how I REALLY feel!!!)
Michelle
Posted by bunnyfluff (Member # 14117) on :
IMHO~ That would be like getting a "false positive" on a pregnancy test! Either you have the reactive proteins, or you DON'T, and you cannot possibly react to the test without it.
I had my Igenex test results with 9 positive + thingies (of course, CDC neg), and had to see a new pain management Dr., as mine moved to Denmark (!!), and the ignorant duck looked at the Igenex results and said "what would make you think you have Lyme??"
I said "the positive test results", and she said (and this still makes me mad) "It says CDC neg.", and she attempted to give me meds for Fibromyalgia! I said "I don't have FMS (moron)"
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