[QUOTE]Originally posted by winsomme:
[B]yankeei am adresing this question to you because it seems that you have to work pretty closely with an immunologist.
one other test that i had done with this DR is my HHV-6 antibody level - which she monitors because it has been high.
this time it was negative!!! like i never had HHV-6. is that possible?
it can't be good right, because that is how my body is supposed to keep me from getting it again.
i thought that once you are infected with a virus you stay positive for that virus the rest of your life.
could this be another indication that my immune system is not working right?
YIB:
Hi Bill,
It is definately possiable that at the time of the first testing--due to the immune supression from dealing with the TBD infections--that you experinced a re-activation of an opportunistic viral pathogen that is "ever present in the body", HHV-6.
Was your first testing positive thru the IgG panel?--which is the class of antibodies created to a known, reccconized pathogen--meaning you had this pathogen at least once before--and the body remembers this via producing antibodies to the pathogen---"Aquired immunity",
Or,
Was the testing positive by IgM?? IgM is mounted at the first signs of acute infection, or an acute reactivation of a known pathogen.
IgM then converts to IgG--and then you will sucessfully build IgG antibodies--if you have a normally functioning immune response!
Yours appears alittle off--so it is indeed possiable that your testing can be effected by the immune system malfunction.
The HHV-6 could have also been reactivated at the time of the first test--due to the immune supression brought on by fighting TBD infection(s)
At the time of the second testing--it is possiable that your immune status was somewhat improved---and you were able to place the viral pathogen back into latentcy
It is also possiable one, or both of the tests may be "off", due to different problems that can occur when running tests on organisms without a celluar "wall"
Of, course!! We are aware that unlike HHV-6...........in many sufferers--Borrelia evades/invades the immune system
Henceforth, all the problems with testing for B.B.
Hope this helps you somewhat!!