posted
My son just got his labcorp western blot results. IGG 41 and 58 are "present" and "abnormal".
Any opinions? Could these bands be "present" and "abnormal" for anything else besides Lyme?
Posts: 854 | From Somewhere | Registered: Nov 2010
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kgg
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5867
posted
It can be very confusing and not clear. Testing for Lyme is only 45% accurate. You can go to your physician and have a rapid strep test done with more accuracy. It is sad.
IgG typically indicates a past infection or exposure. But the problem is that Lyme messes with the immunes system and it underreacts to illness. So a patient can flip flop, with testing, from IgG (past) to IgM (present infection) multiple times.
Band 41 and 58 are considered non-specific Lyme indicators. Some bands are specific to a protein on the outer shell of the bacteria. Where these are not specific.
I read on band 58. It indicates it is reacting to a spirochete, which I consider fairly specific to a type of bacterial cell. Lyme/Borrelia burgdorferi has three cell types, one is a spirochete. Then it went on to say, it could be reacting to a possible unidentified spirochete in the mouth. I am not sure how many of us walk around with spirochetes in our mouths.
Band 41, they used to say could also indicate EBV. The problem is that Lyme and EBV are bad buddies. Many times with the suppression of our immune system, Epstein Bar Virus can rear its ugly head. The prevailing thought for a while was, take care of the Lyme and your body will take care of EBV. I don't know if that is still applied today or not.
All of that to say, again, Lyme testing is 45% accurate. That is why it is considered a clinical diagnosis. Meaning the physician looks at the labs, does a physical exam, takes a VERY detailed history on your son and has Lyme as a differential diagnosis. That means that they have included it as a possibility while ruling our what else it could be.
Many believe that someone has to have at least 5 bands positive on this test to be positive for Lyme. Not so!! That was for CDC surveillance only. It was never meant to be used clinically. But our messed up medical system does so anyway.
So key here is find a really good LLMD, or Lyme literate MD. Typically they will be affiliated with ILADS, not IDSA.
Hope this helps to clarify and not to confuse you more.
Posts: 1856 | From Maine | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Thanks for the replies. He made an appt with the doctor that treated my other son. His job sucks right now and he was attributing a lot of his symptoms to the stress.
He wrote down all the symptoms he has had - they come and go. I don't think he has ever had them all at once but when I looked at them it looked so much like lyme.
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Bartenderbonnie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 49177
posted
Yes, 41 and 58 western blot bands can cross react with periodontal disease, EBV, syphilis, anaplasmosis.
But 41 and 58 bands are a BIG clue! That’s why they are reportable on the western blot.
Reportable bands;
18 kDan. flagellin fragment
22 kDan. Immonogentic integral membrane lipoproteins. Cross-reactive with other spirochetes/bacteria. Depending on source, may be specific for Bb or cross-reactive.
23-25 kDa Specific for Bb
OspC. 25 kDa Specific for Bbfor Bb
28 kDa OspD. Specific for Bb
30 kDa. OspA substrate binding protein
31 kDa OspA substrate binding protein
34 kDa OspA. OspB. Specific for Bb
37;akaOspB. FlaA gene product. Specific for Bb
39 kDa. BmpA. Specific for Bb
41 kDa. flagellin fragment
45 kDa. also appears for human ganulocytic ehrichiosis (HGE)
58 kDa.
66 kDa Hsp outer/integral membrane protein
73 kDa
88 kDa. high molecular mass protein. Specific for Bb
93 kDa. an immunodominant protoplasmic cylinder antigen, associated with the flagellum. Specific for Bb
There are also alternative reporting bands through these many, many years so there’s that to consider.
Testing is so outdated and flawed so it’s important to factor in a clinical diagnosis by symptoms . Here is Dr Richard Horowitz’s MSIDS (multiple systemic infectious disease syndrome) questionnaire;
I had 5 western boots from Quest and each one had different bands show up. I was CDC positive if you added up all the bands from all the tests, lol. Also new bands showed up during treatments because my immune system was finally recognizing the antigens.
You will need a LLMD 💚
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