Reliability of the elisa test for lyme
Common Questions and Answers about Reliability of the elisa test for lyme
elisa-test
Five of the ten bands considered in the IgG portion of the test are not Lyme specific. It is possible to have the right combination of other antibodies to other bugs to make those five bands positive. But if any of the five Lyme specific bands are positive, then there's really no question. Unfortunately, lab results don't tell you which bands matter more than others, so even most doctors don't know.
The doc should know what to order, and if they don't, then they may not understand the results either. :(
There is much misunderstanding among docs about which tests to use and which ones to believe.
here is some of the explanation from California Lyme Disease Assn (aka CALDA) on this point:
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Antibody tests
The most common tests measure the patient’s antibody response to infection.
You want to know about Lyme disease then I suggest you go to a forum that discusses it.
You do not have HIV and do not need further testing. At six weeks the ELISA test would detect over 95% of infections contracted six weeks earlier. The added information from the DNA and antigen tests add further to the evidence that you don't have HIV and, when considered in the context of your low risk to start with (single exposure), you have nothing to worry about.
Hope this helps.
Hi Goldie23
You are asking good questions --
I'm guessing FMS means fibromyalgia? MPS and DDD I don't know. Lyme patients are sometimes told they have fibromyalgia, a disease syndrome with no known cause or cure. We do know however that Lyme is caused by a specific bacterium and is treatable.
My interpretation is #1 is the standard screening test (ELISA). If the test is positive then the western blot is done automatically. This is the standard testing for lyme that most non-lyme specialists order. I just wonder how much it costs if the test is negative and no further testing is done. It should be a lot less. The ELISA is not very reliable and misses a large percentage of lyme cases. #2 is the western blot in itself.
I think this is what it means but I'm not sure.
I certainly have read about the reliability of ELISA test at 3 month; however, is there anjy data regarding the reliability after 5 weeks?
second question, the ELISA test is confirmewd through WB test, only or by subsequent ELISA test with the SAME SAMPLE, that is, for the confirmation is always necesarry a second sample?
PS -- I should also have added:
There is a newer, different test for Lyme, called a polymerase chain reaction [PCR] test that Lyme specialists often use in addition to the Western blot and ELISA tests.
The Wblot/ELISA tests rely on your immune system reaction to determine whether you have a positive (+) test or a negative (-) test for Lyme.
ELISA is one of the earlier tests, but I think it's still used.
The standard tests (ELISA and Western blot) used to diagnose Lyme rely entirely on measuring your immune system's reaction to the presence of Lyme in your body ... which would be fine, except that many of the docs in the Lyme field *still* don't know that the Lyme bacteria can and do suppress the action of your immune system.
This may apply only to ELISA/Western blot tests, which rely on the immune system reaction to Lyme to confirm Lyme, while the IGeneX PCR test may not be affected -- ?
I can't now find that post, and ask that if you remember it, please repost it, or if you have information on this topic, please post that as well. One of our current posters here is going to get tested and may be on abx already.
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