Results from a Lyme disease test are exceedingly unreliable. This is due to the fact that during certain stages of the disease, no antibodies can be detected in an infected patient. A Lyme disease test with more accuracy is sorely needed.
Two tests are currently used to detect Lyme infection: the Western Blot analysis, which is used to identify particular antibodies, and the ELISA, a more general antibody test. However, both tests are notoriously inaccurate. Both test for antibodies, which complicates the detection of Lyme bacteria.
"The commercial testing that's available is, in a word, terrible. It has coin toss sensitivity, which means if you flip a coin you get the same results as doing a commercial test," says Dr. Raphael Stricker, former ILADS president, who treats Lyme patients at his clinic in San Francisco.
"And these are the FDA-approved tests that are always being touted by the ISDA. The only reason that FDA approval is needed for those tests is in order to make money off them, to market them commercially. And that's what people don't understand. They think that somehow FDA approval means that the test is better, but it's really not true. The only reason to get FDA approval for a Lyme disease test is if you want to make money off it," says Dr. Stricker.
"In contrast to these really lousy commercial tests, there are some labs that specialize in testing that does much better, that is much more sensitive," Dr. Stricker explains. "Unfortunately, those labs have been bashed by the IDSA as being inaccurate. And that's another problem that we have with making the diagnosis, because if you have someone who is chronically ill and you do a Lyme disease test that misses half the cases, chances are, you're not going to make a diagnoses and the person is not going to get treated."
Patients can take a Lyme disease test one week and get a positive result, and take the same test two weeks later and result in a negative. The confusion is due to the nature of the Lyme bacteria, which is highly adaptive and bent on survival within a threatening environment.
Two tests are currently used to detect Lyme infection: the Western Blot analysis, which is used to identify particular antibodies, and the ELISA, a more general antibody test. However, both tests are notoriously inaccurate. Both test for antibodies, which complicates the detection of Lyme bacteria.
"The commercial testing that's available is, in a word, terrible. It has coin toss sensitivity, which means if you flip a coin you get the same results as doing a commercial test," says Dr. Raphael Stricker, former ILADS president, who treats Lyme patients at his clinic in San Francisco.
"And these are the FDA-approved tests that are always being touted by the ISDA. The only reason that FDA approval is needed for those tests is in order to make money off them, to market them commercially. And that's what people don't understand. They think that somehow FDA approval means that the test is better, but it's really not true. The only reason to get FDA approval for a Lyme disease test is if you want to make money off it," says Dr. Stricker.
"In contrast to these really lousy commercial tests, there are some labs that specialize in testing that does much better, that is much more sensitive," Dr. Stricker explains. "Unfortunately, those labs have been bashed by the IDSA as being inaccurate. And that's another problem that we have with making the diagnosis, because if you have someone who is chronically ill and you do a Lyme disease test that misses half the cases, chances are, you're not going to make a diagnoses and the person is not going to get treated."
Patients can take a Lyme disease test one week and get a positive result, and take the same test two weeks later and result in a negative. The confusion is due to the nature of the Lyme bacteria, which is highly adaptive and bent on survival within a threatening environment.
No comments:
Post a Comment