Why are there no accurate tests for Lyme?

I typed in the query "Why are there no accurate tests for Lyme" and came upon this article. I think the author did a good job in explaining why current tests, ELISA, Western Blot, Culture and PCR are inadequate. Unfortunately he didn't identify any good ways to test for presence of the disease (Yes, I know Igeneix is recommended, but he didn't mention them).

I just asked my primary MD to recheck my Western Blot and to do a CD-57 at my appointment on Tuesday as I am curious to see if anything shows up. They said it will take at least a week to get results. I have a clinical diagnosis of Lyme Carditis, but it sure would be nice to see a lab test validate it. Below is the link to the article.

http://www.owndoc.com/pdf/when-accurate-lyme-tests.pdf

A false positive , a negative elisa and 2 western blots..
it test for 1 type of species .there are over a hundred.even mayo just nsmed one for itself. There is bborrelia miyamoto ,garini,americana, other ketes like denticola,leptospirosis, that just what i remember with my lyme brain.
When i saw the spirochetes under a microscope at 1600x plain as day...ther was no denial...this was light field..there are darkfield practioners in nearly every state..get wb results .even band 41 alone means there is a flagella...bart ot ketes and proto have tails.this lab in africa as will id for 300.he calls it pleomorphic form bacteria. It took him a while to knoe whst he was looking at.

The paper is a good share & the author Tom Grier has certainly done his share of trying to shed the light.

And Shmily~I also do not understand why you are being retested? Has treatment (abx?) shown ANY improvement at all for you?

And yes, we ALL should wonder WHY after ALL these years, there is not better testing. WHY there is denial that so many are sick with autoimmune & more?

Posted before, but to repeat, the PhD NIH researcher to whom the disease is named, Willy Burgdorfer wrote the below abstract in the Health Pub Med US National Library of Medicine National Institute.

At that time Willy was advising that 10 YEARS THEN had already passed & that a dangerous pathogen was a worldwide concern. (Why all the abstracts, articles, studies & continued studies for a benign bug?).

1991 one from W Burgdorfer:
"Lyme borreliosis: TEN YEARS after discovery of the etiologic agent, Borrelia burgdorferi,"

"Since the recovery of its causative agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, in 1981, Lyme borreliosis has become the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the United States as well as in Europe. Its steadily increasing clinical spectrum now includes erythema migrans, acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans, lymphadenosis beniga cutis, arthritis, myocarditis, progressive meningoencephalitis, myositis, and various ocular and skin disorders.

The true incidence of Lyme borreliosis in the world is unknown. In the United States, it has increased from 2,000 cases in 1987, to more than 8,000 in 1989. It occurs now in regions where the tick vectors, Ixodes dammini and Ixodes pacificus, are absent and where other species of ticks may be responsible for maintaining and distributing the spirochete. In Europe, Lyme borreliosis has been reported from 19 countries; its occurrence coincides with the distribution of the vector tick, Ixodes ricinus and possibly Ixodes hexagonus.

Specific and dependable serological tests are still not available, but development of probes for specific antigens and the polymerase chain reaction appear promising in detecting ongoing infections and in identifying B. burgdorferi in ticks, animal, and human hosts." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1917043

Post Edited (happyjo) : 7/24/2016 1:15:56 AM (GMT-6)

Great post happyjo

GH -
That is a reality. I think there are similarities with the lyme situation. Investigations revealed that Guidelines authors and CDC associates have conflicts of interests in testing products, vaccines and have also been paid to testify on behalf of insurance companies. The financial motivation is clear.

But I also think there is more to the story... stay tuned.

-p