As for the test results, here is the site that I use to help interpret them:
www.reocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/western-blot.txt It's the most comprehensive site I have found so far, with supporting articles cited.
An IgM result means that you have an active infection. It once was thought to mean an 'early' infection, but has since been revised. IgG means that the infection is at a later stage. The more +'s you have beside a number, the stronger the reaction.
IND means indeterminate - not negative, but not quite strong enough to be "fully positive". But it means that you reacted on those bands and should be considered, especially when they are Lyme specific bands.
A "Lyme specific band" means specific for Borrelia Burgdorferi, sensu stricto - Lyme disease in the strictest sense. There is only
one on the over 300 known strains of Lyme that is considered Bb, ss. Nothing else will turn a Lyme specific band positive other than Lyme disease.
Bands 18 & 41 (whether in IgM or IgG) are indicative of the tail of the bacteria, which can cross react with other Spirochetal bacteria such as Relapsing Fever, Pintas and Yaws, and Syphilis. ------------------------------------------------------------
I believe there is a lot of controversy still for Band 41. At this point, these are the only articles that I'm aware of that speak to it's specificity to Lyme:
Proteins of B. garinii with a molecular weight of 94, 84, 66, 60, 56, 41, 39, 33, 29, 22, 18 and 14 kDa were detected in the reaction with monoclonal antibodies and immunoglobulins of patients suffering from barreliosis. The frequency and intensity of the reaction of these antigens differed markedly in sera of patients suffering from borreliosis and sera of patients who suffered from a different infection.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+9162453&p%24a=&p%24l=DefaultSite&p%24st=m"The most frequently detected antigens in cross reactions with immunoglobulins against other pathogens are proteins P66, P60, P41 which are dominant immunogens of all types of borrelias and moreover a humoral response to them develops in the acute stage of the disease."
europepmc.org/abstract/MED/9162453Yet there are other articles that support it being specific to one of the strains of Lyme (remember, there are over 100 different strains of Lyme that cause human illness) -
"Evaluation of banding pattern in respect to clinical form of the disease revealed the highest prevalence of IgM and IgG anti-41 kDa antibodies in patients with erythema migrans and Lyme arthritis, and anti-58 kDa in neuroborreliosis patients, who had no anti-21 kDa antibodies."
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=PMID%3A+9972057&p%24a=&p%24l=DefaultSite&p%24st=m" If the Western blot is used for diagnostic purposes the differences between early and late-stage immunogenicity of Borrelia proteins must be taken into account. Interpretation criteria for blot positivity in early-stage borreliosis are primarily based on the presence of the 21 kDa band and the semiquantitatively recorded intensity of the 41 kDa band. "
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8223404But, if you put that aside(after all it's only one band), your friend still has significant positives & IND's that indicate Lyme specific bands are showing, as bands 31, 39, 83 & 93 are all Lyme (Borrelia Burgdorferi) specific.
But, as I said, there are over 100 different strains of Lyme that can cause human illness, and most of them will respond to these treatments.
Your friend needs to find an ILADS trained LLMD and get started with treatments, since the only way a person can test positive for Lyme specific bands is to have the Lyme bacteria inside your body.