Posted 7/2/2021 8:32 PM (GMT 0)
i am not familiar with immunoscience as a test lab - so i cannot advise on the sensitivity or quality of their tests - they are not one of the major labs i hear of being used by LLMD's
however - due to sensitivity issues with all available tests for Lyme and co-infections - it is not possible to draw firm conclusions from negative tests from any lab.
on the western blot
the official criteria set by the CDC is as follows - but this was for disease surveillance purposes not clinical use - so it is unnecessary strict
Official criteria
The CDC criteria for a positive WB are as follows:
* For IgM, 2 of the following three bands: OspC (21-25), 39 and 41.
* For IgG, 5 of the following ten bands: 18, OspC (21-25), 28, 30, 39, 41, 45, 58, 66 and 93.
41 is in the criteria for lyme - but is also present in a high proportion of controls
overall i would say the test results somewhat raise the suspicion of Lyme based on 2 of the 10 CDC bands for IGG on the western blot - but not enough to give a high degree of certainty
in these circumstances a LLMD would tend to defer to the clinical picture and patient history and perhaps response to treatments
also every lab uses different limits for their tests so you cannot usefully compare the thresholds from one lab to another