When a person doesn’t know that they’ve had Lyme for years and begins presenting with symptoms of a chronic Lyme disease infection, they will likely be tested to look for antibodies. This test is new, however, and the CDC has exercised caution against using it since there is only one commercially available culture test for Lyme disease. Blood is taken from a person suspected of having Lyme disease, and the lab attempts to grow Lyme bacteria using the blood culture. The final option is culture testing, which is highly regarded as the gold standard for diagnosis. Antigen testing looks for a specific protein of the Lyme bacteria to help diagnose Lyme disease and can identify infection in people who have had negative results using the ELISA and Western blot tests. These tests look for the bacteria as opposed to the antigens created by your body in response to the bacteria.Ī PCR test uses a portion of DNA from the borrelia bacteria to help with detection. Other types of tests for Lyme disease include PCR (polymerase chain reaction), antigen detection, and culture testing. PCR, antigen detection and culture testing Although sometimes accurate, however, this test is inherently flawed because methods and criteria for interpreting results can change from lab to lab. It is used to identify an active infection of Lyme disease. The Western blot test is a type of blood test that aims to single out certain proteins known as antigens. This makes sure that only people with Lyme disease are diagnosed and treated. The first test is highly sensitive and the second highly specific. A negative result typically warrants no further testing, but a positive one does. The first part of the ELISA test acts as a preliminary investigation to see if further testing is needed. Image by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash : How do you test for Lyme disease? ELISA and western blot According to the CDC, the ELISA should be ordered first prior to the Western blot. The ELISA is typically part one of a two-step process, but it only requires one blood sample to be taken. They are designed to look for evidence that the body has responded to a Lyme disease infection rather than looking for the actual infection itself. The tests that are most used today include the ELISA and the Western blot test.
There is more than one way to test for Lyme disease.
Western blot test lyme disease how to#
So what is the most reliable Lyme disease test? How to test for Lyme disease A bulls-eye rash may also appear at the site – but what if there is no rash and you are unaware a tick bite occurred at all? If you’re experiencing these symptoms and are worried that you have Lyme disease, you will have to get tested. In the even that you are bitten and do contract Lyme disease, you may experience flu-like symptoms, fever, chills, headaches, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Ticks are small and can be missed if you don’t do proper checks after time spent outdoors. When someone is bitten by an infected tick, it takes roughly 36–48 hours for the tick to pass the bacteria onto its host. While not all ticks have Lyme disease, numbers of those that are infected with borrelia continue to rise in popular areas throughout the United States, which leads to an increased risk of contracting the disease. Lyme disease occurs when a tick infected with the borrelia bacteria latches on to a host and passes the bacteria into the bloodstream.
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