posted
Our son has been tested for Babesia Ducani through Quest. His first result was 1:4096. His latest test is 1:256. Still shows Babesia but definitely better. This makes sense to me since he has been taking Lariam, Plaquenil and Biaxin to kill the Babesia.
Here's the thing...a blood sample was sent to the CDC (long story as to why they have it) and their test was negative. How can this be????? They are going to do a PCR test but this does not make any sense to me. If Quest can find it twice, why can't they find it once? Did they find it and aren't reporting it?
I'm so frustrated because his blood was drawn 6/18 and not tested until at least 7/12 because their lab moved.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Posts: 66 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Jun 2010
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nenet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13174
posted
I'm not very well-read on Babesia testing, but judging by other tick-borne testing standards, your last statement about lag in testing the sample could be very telling.
In the case of Lyme antibody testing (ELISA, WB), the way the blood sample is handled, and the length of time before testing the sample, has a huge impact on the testing results later.
If they were looking for Babesia antibodies, the fact that they waited so long to test the sample could be the reason it came back negative. Someone with more knowledge of Babesia antibody testing will have to speak to that.
The PCR might prove more useful, since there might still be viable fragments of Babesia, but with CDC's overall track record for carefulness and attention to detail, I wouldn't bank on it.
I do hope others will weigh in on this too. I'm interested to hear from more folks who have experienced something similar.
Posts: 66 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Jun 2010
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seekhelp
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 15067
posted
Remember these Quest tests are all IgG, not IgM. The CDC probably ran the IgM test not available to the public. Igenex has an IgM portion too, but expense.
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
Before we started our son on the meds., I specifically asked our LLMD if we needed a confirmatory test for Babesia. I was looking at the Quest lab result and amazed at how high that number was.
She said there was no doubt in her mind that he had an active infection based on his symptoms and titer results. I remember when his first Lyme test through Quest was negative and she was 100% convinced he had Lyme. She was right. Igenex was positive and the VA Health Dept. test was positive too (both ELISA and Western Blot).
The CDC is supposed to run more tests but my confidence in them reporting the truth is pretty low. They believe that this particular strain of Babesia is not on this coast. What???
In any event, it is exhausting battling all the Lyme stuff and then having to battle this too. Ugh..
Posts: 66 | From Northern Virginia | Registered: Jun 2010
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