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| NATIONAL NEWS |
| IOWA NEWS |
2010. For more information see this CDC website: CDC Lyme disease cases
Iowans and anyone else interested in discussing Lyme issues. Want to find out how others are being treated? Is someone else afflicted with the same symptom? You are not alone, dealing with this disease. Let's help each other! Iowa Lyme Group on Facebook
a good time to educate Iowan's. Contact us for more information.
for a friend in UK or another state? Does your local physician need to consult with a more knowledgeable doctor? Check out these links. Looking for a doctor by state |
| ***Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site should not take the place of any quality medical care. It is provided for patient information only. ILDA does not engage in rendering medical services. |
| LYME NEWS National - State - Midwest |
| Iowa lyme Disease Association - Education P.O. Box 221 Brighton, IA 52540 Email: [email protected] |
Outdoor Lovers BEWARE Ticks are active this summer with all of the rainfall. Be sure to take precautions. Where light colored long pants and long sleeved clothing. Stop and check every so often for ticks crawling on your clothes. Spray clothes with an approved repellent. Do not let outdoor clothes lie around. Wash and dry in a high heat cycle for at least 30 min. to eliminate ticks and the bacteria. |
| LYME DISEASE HIGHLIGHTS |
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| Letter from Dr. Burrascano |
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September 5, 2011 Joe Burrascano, Jr., MD has announced a new lab test available for Lyme doctors to use in determining if Lyme is present. There is no need to wait for antibodies to form since this is a culture-based test. This should provide much faster and more accurate detection, and allow Lyme patients to receive treatment as soon as possible. Please read below for Dr. Burrascano's description of the new test: In my work as a consultant, I have been working with a private lab located near Philadelphia, Advanced Laboratories, Inc. They wanted to develop a unique and high value test, and, with my interest in Lyme, I naturally encouraged them to work on a better Lyme Disease test. As a result of some very intensive work on the part of a group of some very brilliant scientists, they have succeeded in developing a reliable and rapid blood culture for Borrelia! They actually have rolled out two separate panels- a basic one and an advanced one. In the basic panel, the blood sample is cultured and the positives are identified by histology and growth characteristics, and confirmed by fluorescent immunostaining. Positive reports will include a picture of the Bb growing in that very culture. The advanced panel will do this, but will also do PCR using well characterized and published DNA primer sets, and then all positive PCRs will be confirmed by DNA sequencing. Remarkably, turn-around time can be as brief as ten days for the basic test, and seven to ten more days for the advanced panel. The next step in their research is also equally exciting and ground breaking, but I am not at liberty to say yet what is being planned. As many of you recall, I learned the basics of true, clinical Lyme over 25 years ago thanks to Bb culturing that was available to me by Dr. Alan MacDonald. The new methods being used by this Pennsylvania lab go far beyond what MacDonald was able to do, so I am very excited to not only share this news with you, but I also cannot wait to see how it will change how we practice. I also predict that Bb will be found in a lot of people, from mildly to severely ill, and that will redefine the role of the immunologist in Lyme to find out why some people recover and why others do not. Strain information as provided by the DNA sequencing data will be equally fascinating to follow. Copyright © 2007 - 2023 Iowa Lyme Disease Association (ILDA). All Rights Reserved. |
Standard in Lyme Disease testing. Lyme Disease blood testing has been notorious for its unreliability. This has been responsible for misdiagnoses and inappropriate patient care, as well as confusion on the part of both patient and physician alike. Now, as a result of intensive research, Advanced Laboratory Services Inc. is able to offer what will rapidly become the new gold standard of Lyme tests, the Borrelia Culture. Until now, the most widely used confirmatory tests for Lyme disease have been serologies, such as the ELISA and the Western Blot. Being indirect tests, at best they can only indicate possible exposure to this organism at some previous point in time. The sensitivity of these assays is low and may miss anywhere from 30% to as many as 70% of cases of Lyme. Once positive, these serologic tests tend to remain positive for variable periods, even years, even after treatment. Therefore they do not and cannot be used as a marker for progress during treatment or for success of treatment. While still considered investigational, this new method of testing for Lyme allow these advantages: Currently, Advanced Labs is offering two Borrelia blood culture panels: * 1. The Basic Panel consists of culturing, with confirmation of identity by histology and by specific immunostaining. The report will include a picture of the actual immunostained culture result. This panel will take approximately ten to fourteen days. However, some do grow more slowly, so all cultures will be held in the lab for a minimum of six weeks. 2. The Extended Panel will include all of the above, plus the identity of all positive cultures will be further studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and by nucleic acid sequencing. These extra steps will require an additional ten to fourteen days. However, if the initial histology with immunostaining is positive, a preliminary report will be issued while the nucleic acid studies are pending. * Costs for the tests will be in the range of under $500 for the basic test; the extended culture tests will be approximately $200 more. Also, testing must be paid for in advance, but patients may submit their paid receipt to their own insurance carriers for reimbursement. Bb culture nuts and bolts: - If the patient is symptomatic at the time of blood draw and not on antibiotics for at least four weeks, the test sensitivity exceeds 80%. - All negative controls have remained negative, so far. - As with all blood cultures, the patient may need several sets to be sure. - Any positive test is significant, even if it is the only positive out of a set of three. The success of culturing Borrelia can be increased by following these simple recommendations: 1. The patient should not have been exposed to any antibiotics, for a minimum of four weeks prior to the blood sample being drawn. 2. Borrelia are more likely to be recovered from patients who are symptomatic at the time of blood sampling. 3. A higher yield may be seen if the blood is drawn in the early afternoon, when most infected patients feel especially ill. Contact the lab to have test kits sent to you or your local physician. The blood must be sent out the same day it is collected, and the lab provides a prepaid return FedEx mailer. As the lab is not yet accepting specimens over weekends, please do not collect blood on Fridays. For more information contact: Advanced Laboratory Services, Inc. 501 Elmwood Avenue, Sharon Hill, PA 19079 Web: www.advanced-lab.com E-mail: [email protected] Toll Free Phone: 855-238-4949, Fax: 855-238-4946 |
