Madison Area Lyme Support Group

This barely scratches the surface and will likely leave you more confused…so welcome to the Lyme world.

I hope this article is your only exposure to this disease, but chances are it isn’t.

At the most basic level, the controversy is the result of the law of numbers:

1. HUNDREDS of species of the Lyme bacteria exist, and more are discovered each year: borrelia burgdorferi (most common in the US), borrelia recurrentis, borrelia afzelli (European)… to name a few [1].
2. A HANDFUL: We have a few tests to detect the antibodies of only a handful of these bacteria strains.
3. HIGH INACCURACIES: the few tests we have for a few of the infectious bacteria are inaccurate up to 60% of the time in the first few weeks of infection. Although more accurate in later weeks, many doctors refuse to test later.
4. CDC criteria is a threshold test of limited strains and limited antibody proteins: you must have 5 of 10 protein ‘bands’ to test CDC positive, so if you have 1, 2, 3, or 4 — sorry your immune system isn’t reacting enough, it is not CDC positive, you do not qualify for standard treatment. General practitioners and non-Lyme-literate doctors follow this guidance to the letter despite inherent flaws….(See link for full article which does a fantastic job explaining things.)

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/02/02/another-lyme-doc-under-fire/