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Osp-A Rapid Lyme disease test may be available in late 2020

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Posted 9/5/2019 10:37 PM (GMT 0)

Somebody said...


Rapid Lyme disease test may be available in late 2020

By Blaine Friedlander | September 4, 2019

The drawn-out process for diagnosing Lyme disease could become a thing of the past – good news for the thousands of people each year who get the tick-borne illness.

A new detection test created by Ionica Sciences – located at Cornell’s McGovern Center life sciences incubator – has been sparked by a FuzeHub grant to begin moving from the laboratory bench into approvals, production and doctors’ offices.

“For a long time, the medical community has wanted to detect Lyme disease directly, but the marker proteins are at very low levels and medicine has relied on tests of the body’s immune response – which sometimes takes weeks,” said Joel Tabb, president and co-founder of Ionica Sciences. “We have resolved this problem and can directly detect those markers in a very small blood sample. It’s a major breakthrough.”

Ionica Sciences, which joined the McGovern Center in 2014, has developed a serum-based assay called IonLyme that targets the blood protein Osp-A, which provides an active-protein “fingerprint” left behind by the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/09/rapid-lyme-disease-test-may-be-available-late-2020
Posted 9/5/2019 10:39 PM (GMT 0)
I just saw this today. Fingers crossed. I wonder how it can tell if it’s a new or old infection?
Posted 9/6/2019 12:33 AM (GMT 0)

k07 said...
I wonder how it can tell if it’s a new or old infection?

It detects bits of the bacteria, so if the infection is gone then it won't detect anything.

Of course, similar to PCR tests, this has the problem that if you have low levels of bacteria then it might miss it.
Posted 9/6/2019 1:05 AM (GMT 0)

Quin said...

k07 said...
I wonder how it can tell if it’s a new or old infection?

It detects bits of the bacteria, so if the infection is gone then it won't detect anything.

Of course, similar to PCR tests, this has the problem that if you have low levels of bacteria then it might miss it.

No, it specifically says it can tell you if your infection is new or old:

“Our test also will be able to differentiate a fresh infection from an old one – a test that isn’t available to clinicians today.”
Posted 9/6/2019 2:17 AM (GMT 0)

k07 said...
I just saw this today. Fingers crossed. I wonder how it can tell if it’s a new or old infection?



Do they mean an old infection that is in remission? I guess you wouldn’t have symptoms if that was the case - and you’d prob not test.
... or do you mean an acute (recent) infection vs a chronic one?
Posted 9/6/2019 11:00 AM (GMT 0)
I’m skeptical. I’m not convinced it will pick up a long-standing infection. Of course I am sure they will say it will and continue to deny those who don’t test positively.
Posted 9/6/2019 11:39 AM (GMT 0)
JovaLyme,

Most of the current tests rely on antibodies created by the person’s immune system. Some people’s immune systems will fail to create the antibodies that the tests rely on.

There are some with genetic susceptibility to borrelia. If those genes are activated, the immune system may fail.

Further, if the infection is long-standing the immune system may no longer maintain its antibody response.

There are DNA tests, like DNA Connexions, which conduct PCR analysis to look for DNA of the pathogen. The limitation with this is the DNA must be found in the sample. A positive is accurate but a negative result does not prove there is no infection.

My DNA test was positive only for borrelia and ehrlichia, yet I have many clinical signs of bartonella and possibly babesia since childhood.
Posted 9/6/2019 11:46 AM (GMT 0)

JovaLyme said...
We don't really need new tests. They clearly already exist.

Sounds like this test will be the first to detect proteins of the actual spirochete rather than human antibodies. Likely a game changer for the way insurance cos and mainstream doctors have to deal with the disease.

Also while the igenex and Armin tests are better than what is usually used, they are pretty far from perfect
Posted 9/6/2019 12:57 PM (GMT 0)

WalkingbyFaith said...
There are DNA tests, like DNA Connexions, which conduct PCR analysis to look for DNA of the pathogen. The limitation with this is the DNA must be found in the sample. A positive is accurate but a negative result does not prove there is no infection.

My DNA test was positive only for borrelia and ehrlichia, yet I have many clinical signs of bartonella and possibly babesia since childhood.

I got a positive PCR test for bartonella from DNA connexions, but not consistently. I had a negative PCR test for bartonella when it was in remission, but it later relapsed.
Posted 9/6/2019 3:38 PM (GMT 0)

JovaLyme said...
The frustrating thing is that tests to accurately detect Lyme already exist.

I live in the UK (unfortunately) and my original NHS routine Lyme test back negative, as is the case for most people. I wasn't prepared to accept that, so I applied for a grant from a charity who funded an Elispot from Armin Labs in Germany.

Sure enough, the Elispot came back positive. For no other reason than because it was not British, my doctor was reluctant to accept it, so ordered more in-depth tests of my blood at the British Research lab. He called me this morning to tell me that the latest tests at the British lab confirm the Armin tests! I do have Lyme, despite their original tests saying I didn't - and an infectious disease specialist refused to see me based on that original test.

In other words, the British labs do have the ability to accurately diagnose Lyme if they actually bother to conduct the correct test in the first place.

My doctor is now offering me antibiotics and treatment, which I could have started months ago.

Whether it be in the UK, US or anywhere else, conventional medicine clearly does have the ability to do everything Igenix and Armin are doing, but for some reason they choose not to and are still using a test that is proven to be unreliable.

We don't really need new tests. They clearly already exist.

Wow! That is unbelievable.
They just didn’t do the second test!!!
Think about all the people who just accept the first test as negative and don’t go to Armin Labs!!!

I’m in Canada and our testing isn’t great either - but apparently they changed their testing protocol and if the screening test (IFA/Elisa) is negative they will still do the WB.

I have a friend who went to her dr because something bit her and he drew her blood to do some tests and s few days later said her blood didn’t show lyme.

I know he didn’t get it tested for lyme because it would take more than a few days for results.
She wouldn’t listen to me though...
Posted 9/6/2019 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
Doxy alone isn’t used for chronic Lyme - but paired up with another it is.

He won’t have a clue about how to treat it...
Posted 9/6/2019 4:30 PM (GMT 0)

Somebody said...

They need to start taking Lyme seriously and make it a core part of a doctor's training before it reaches almost epidemic levels, which it already might be for all we know.


Don't you think a reliable and hopefully affordable test will help illuminate the true nature of the epidemic? ...and eventually work it's way down to doctors? I think this test could be the "horse before the cart" that we need..

This test could also help untangle persistent/chronic Lyme with "Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome".
Posted 9/6/2019 4:31 PM (GMT 0)
And will this one be fool proof?...........one can only hope, as NONE of the other lyme tests are.
Posted 9/6/2019 6:15 PM (GMT 0)

Somebody said...
Of course it will help to have a reliable test, but it's pointless if no doctors recognise Lyme symptoms or listen to patients when they ask to be tested for it.


I just see a reliable test as the first step to changing mainstream doctors' stances/views of the disease. The major institutions can't deny solid data and when their views change the doctors will change.
Posted 9/6/2019 6:25 PM (GMT 0)

JovaLyme said...

Don't you think a reliable and hopefully affordable test will help illuminate the true nature of the epidemic? ...and eventually work it's way down to doctors? I think this test could be the "horse before the cart" that we need..

This test could also help untangle persistent/chronic Lyme with "Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome".

Of course it will help to have a reliable test, but it's pointless if no doctors recognise Lyme symptoms or listen to patients when they ask to be tested for it.

If someone does develop a 100% accurate, bulletproof Lyme test, the last thing it will be is affordable!

I'm not against a reliable test at all (why would I be), but the continued denial of chronic Lyme and the complete lack of knowledge being demonstrated by your average doctor scares me far more than the reliability of the tests.

========================================================================

Right continued denial is also the problem.

Whose going to determine it's 100% accurate?

Even if you have a positive test result with the 'conventional' lab now - the regular Dr.'s won't treat it past a few weeks....so there's that... THANK GOD for the LLND's and LLMD's or there'd be little hope.
I shudder to think about what I'd be like if I hadn't started treatment....I think I would have looked for a way out.
Posted 9/6/2019 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
When the forum was updated/revamped....the quoting feature stopped working properly.

You can do it manually (with the codes) ....if you want.... I can't be bothered to even look at that.
Posted 9/6/2019 9:19 PM (GMT 0)

JovaLyme said...
Which others can it be paired with?

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4126323
Posted 9/7/2019 12:39 AM (GMT 0)
Doxy can be paired with Biaxin, Bactrim DS, or Azithromycin.

If you want to hit bart (not just lyme), then you can pair up the Doxy with Rifampin...but Rifampin can lower blood levels of doxy - when taken together. I think the opposite can happen too - Doxy may decrease Rifampin blood levels....
Posted 9/7/2019 1:14 AM (GMT 0)
Rifampin raises the CYP3A4 liver enzyme. This not only affects other antibiotics, but also Vitamin D, cortisol, and estrogen.
Posted 9/7/2019 3:45 AM (GMT 0)

Girlie said...
Doxy can be paired with Biaxin, Bactrim DS, or Azithromycin.

If you want to hit bart (not just lyme), then you can pair up the Doxy with Rifampin...but Rifampin can lower blood levels of doxy - when taken together. I think the opposite can happen too - Doxy may decrease Rifampin blood levels....

Doxy and Flagyl. Flagyl gets lyme out of hiding for Doxy to finish it. Along with Ceftin, this makes a killer trio.
Posted 9/7/2019 5:29 AM (GMT 0)
Yah - but just pulse the Flagyl a couple days a week and take a different antibiotic with the doxy.
Posted 9/7/2019 4:06 PM (GMT 0)
Why are they making this so complicated? All they need to do is have you go off of abx for 6 months, take a blood sample, and then culture the bacteria in a petri dish! It's elementary and fool proof. They know this exists already. They've been doing it for years. The problem is that they don't want it to be easy. They like that the tests are vague and unreliable. The CDC knows that this petri dish test exists and they fight back against it with vengeance. They don't want a simple, easy way to know if someone has lyme disease. There are companies trying to get this test passed through the FDA now. We need to support them.
Posted 9/7/2019 4:28 PM (GMT 0)

gfields said...
Why are they making this so complicated? All they need to do is have you go off of abx for 6 months, take a blood sample, and then culture the bacteria in a petri dish! It's elementary and fool proof. ............

There was lab test out East that did just what your talking about, and you could pay for extended time too. Very popular a few years ago...cant think of the name????( someone fill me in here), but its no longer around. I did it after abx was done. Was $500.

Only issue is lyme can remain in low blood flow areas (or in cyst form), which is part of the reason that many tests cant detect it, or you no longer make antibodies if its an antibody test.

Post Edited (astroman) : 9/7/2019 10:35:05 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/7/2019 4:33 PM (GMT 0)

Girlie said...
Yah - but just pulse the Flagyl a couple days a week and take a different antibiotic with the doxy.

My llmd did not fool around, if people could handle it, it was all three every day. I herxed for the first five months (it was he//), then took a break. Then hit it again for a while.....brake,..changed some ABX, then ...repeat.
Posted 9/7/2019 5:06 PM (GMT 0)
Lol Astroman

I say pulse the Flagyl because it’s sometimes hard to tolerate long term (were often treating for many months to years) and for cysts pulsing the Flagyl should work.

Plus it’s one of those abx with the fda black box warning - so I like to limit those ones.

I remember that lab - but can’t remember the name either!
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