Whats the most accurate test for lyme disease?

A blood test can be done to check for antibodies to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The most common one used is the ELISA for Lyme disease test. A western blot test is done to confirm ELISA results. The tests are usually not positive in the first few weeks after the tick bite, so it is often not accurate early in the disease. A skin biopsy can sometimes identify the Lyme disease bacteria.

A physical exam may reveal signs of joint, heart, or brain problems in persons with advanced Lyme disease.

There are 316 different strains of Lyme Disease and a person can contract more than one at the same time. Both the ELISA test and western blot test are worthless because they can give a false negative up to 10% of the people who undergo them. I am one of those 10%. It took something called the Immune Dot test (which is no longer performed to find mind. However, there is something simple that you can do yourself to find out if you have it. Use a heating lamp on the area affected (like maybe for 20 minutes). Then take the heating lamp off and apply a cold compress. If you feel bad during or after applying the compress and then feel better, you have Lyme Disease. The reason for this is when the bacteria's temperature is raised and then dropped suddenly, it dies releasing toxins. This was actually used to cure me where I took hot saunas for an hour and then a cold shower immediately afterwards. I did that for about a year and have never been plagued with it again.

There is NO definitive test for Lyme disease. The usual blood tests check for antibodies to the disease, not the disease itself. There are lots of reasons why an infected person might not test positive for antibodies.

Lyme is a clinical diagnosis. You need to be seen by someone who has the knowledge and experience to recognize what you have by your symptoms and medical history.

Good sources of info about Lyme disease:

http://www.lymedisease.org/

http://www.canlyme.com/

http://www.lymenet.org/

http://www.lymeinfo.net/

http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/

http://www.ilads.org/

http://www.betterhealthguy.com/

http://www.publichealthalert.com/

http://www.freewebs.com/teenswithlyme

http://www.lymetimes.org/

http://www.mentalhealthandillness.com/lymeArticles...

Antibody tests are the most commonly used tests to help identify Lyme disease and keep track of its treatment. Antibody testing may also be done on fluid from the spine or from a joint.

It may take up to 2 months after becoming infected before antibodies can be detected in a blood test. Once formed, antibodies usually stay in your system for many years, even after successful treatment of the disease. Finding antibodies to the Lyme disease bacteria does not tell whether you were infected recently or sometime in the past.

Although there are exotic tests out there, the most Accurate (least false '+'s) is "PCR analysis", which checks for the DNA of the Lyme bacteria itself- in urine, blood or tissue samples.

Unfortunately, multiple tests are usually required before a sample is obtained that contains the bacteria. Also, most doctors are unaware of this test... and many labs are unequipped to handle it. This is why a specialty lab like Medical Diagnostics Labs in Mt Laurel, NJ and IGeneX in Palo Alto CA are often used. The samples are usually 2-day or overnight-aired.

The Lyme Disease Research Center- at Columbia University in NY- is making developing better testing a 'top priority', though for now, most doctors use a "Western blot" test to check for the presence of anti-bodies in the blood [serum] that are specific to Lyme...to help them with a clinical diagnosis.

The presence of Lyme-specific "bands" are useful indicators of infection, but they sometimes don't "appear" due to insufficient antibodies being produced, such as when a person has been infected at a low level for years.

The problem with Lyme disease is that there is no one definitive test for it because there are several different versions of Lyme. You really should go to an infectious disease specialist to make sure that you're being tested for all the different strains.

the main precise DNA try is the PCR. If some one tests damaging with the PCR yet remains symptomatic, they might desire to be examined with the ELISA/Western Blot sequence to substantiate