posted
So after about 8 to 9 years of being Lyme free, my blood tests came back positive for IgM band 39 (my ANA has also abnormally high for two years- I thought it was beccause separate problems with my arms, but maybe not...)
I've only heard of false negatives with Lyme, but is is possible to have a false positive Lyme test?
Thanks!
Posts: 23 | From Morristown, NJ | Registered: Jun 2011
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posted
A year ago, the rheumatologist couldn't figure out what was causing the ANA elevation, they never were able to figure out why. It's still high now.
I'm going to another one... I guess to do the same tests again to see if they missed something. My general doc says the band 39 isn't as important as the others... don't if know I believe that... I keep telling her it's possible the other bands could be false negatives. I used to only show false negatives and inconclusive.
Posts: 23 | From Morristown, NJ | Registered: Jun 2011
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"Band 39: Unknown what this antigen is, but based on research at the National Institute of Health (NIH), other Borrelia (such as Borrelia recurrentis that causes relapsing fever), do not even have the genetics to code for the 39 kDa antigen, much less produce it. It is the most specific antibody for borreliosis of all."
---From the link I gave you above.
Lyme can cause a positive ANA.
PS.. Which lab?? Some labs do not test for ALL POSSIBLE BANDS.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Sorry. Thought you meant which lab tests. I've found that info about 39 before in an article online, but couldn't really validate. It's good to know for sure now, thanks.
They only tested 3 of the bands: 23, 39 and 41, the definitely didn't do all of them (I think the laboratory was call BioRef or something like that). They left a note on my blood work that 2 of the 3 bands need to be positive for a result for Lyme(totally not true).
Good news is I'm not showing symptoms I remember from when I was younger.. but it makes me anxious to know if what I'm feeling are new symptoms that I can't identify with Lyme.
But that's why I joined this site. People kept asking me if false positives were possible, so I thought I'd take to the message boards. Thank you again for your help. Posts: 23 | From Morristown, NJ | Registered: Jun 2011
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Band 39 is BmpA (also B, C, and D), a membrane protein. It is the most common band after 41 on IGeneX results and frequently in the literature.
False positives are found in the literature for 39 and all of the rest of the bands.
Posts: 426 | From Berkeley, CA | Registered: Feb 2009
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