babesia duncani

[bulldog24]

My son was low positive but I was told by dr b office "everyone tests pos for this" false positive. Anyone else deal with this?

 

I have lyme and I didnt test pos for babs duncani, so kinda suspicious.

 

They are telling me its the lab.

[PowPow]

never heard about false positives for this, would be interested to hear more.

my daughter had this (or at least lab said so!) was tested by an LLMD .she did have physical symptoms, so many it was accurate. maybe it was coincidence.....

any one else gave any info on potential false positives for this test? or even links?

 

edited to clarify that we used quest or labcorp not igenex..

Edited April 17, 2012 by PowPow

[sf_mom]

There are a couple of things you can do to challenge or confirm Babesia Diagnoses. One would be to run a comprehensive stool analysis via Metametrix http://www.metametrix.com/. Per our LLMD it is common for Metametrix to pick up an 'unknown' parasite in stool for those that have Babesia. You could do a 4 day herbal challenge with A-bab, Crypto Plus or Enula to see if symptoms flair. There are also some blood smears that that might give you an indication if there is an inner red blood cell parasite. You could also do ART muscle testing if you are comfortable with process and a practitioner.

 

Our LLMD feels it is important to consider the entire families labs results as a potential 'indication' as to how the family is infected. We had only one child positive for Babesia. I was symptomatic for Babesia but negative on blood work. We eventually did stool analysis, ART muscle testing, herbal challenges and treatment responsiveness to help with diagnoses. There is no doubt I had/have babesia as well as all of our children. It has taken a good 8 months of treatment for two children to see 'marked' improvement. One child has now been on Mepron since last July is probably nearing the end of treatment.

 

One of my favorite symptom list for Babesia or BLO is the following. However, a few of the symptoms left off the list that are typically included in more traditional symptom lists of Babesia are dizziness, vertigo, nausea, night sweats, night mares, night waking, petechia rash and low RBC.

 

The predominate symptoms of Babesia for me was dizziness, falling over due to dizzy spells, bed spins, nausea (while on antibiotics), thigh pain. For my children the predominate symptom was "temperature intolerance, layering clothing at night due to chill then throws off the bed covers due to overheating". The drenching night sweats, night mares, night waking came "mostly" after we started treating aggressively and eventually a petechia rash appeared. The rash occurred for older DS two months into treatment and it was along his spine. The rash occurred for younger DD after 7 months of treatment and it was 3" by 6" and also on her back.

 

http://www.wayneanderson.com/pages/diseases/babesia

 

I would ask your LLMDs perspective on your son's low positive results...... although, he may not be able to comment on results if your son is not currently a patient.

Edited April 17, 2012 by SF Mom

[philamom]

Dr. B uses his own lab for testing now (not Quest, Labcorp, or Igenex). I can't remember their name off hand. I have a bill somewhere around here, if you want to call the lab to inquire. Let me know and I'll find it.

Edited April 17, 2012 by philamom

[fightingmom]

I have been wondering the SAME thing about the labs for coinfections. I found the results hard to interpret. Bartonella came back as "negative no titers found" or something along those lines, but we both had two others that came back as saying no evidence of "acute infection" or something like that and titers of 1:20 and 1:64.

 

Is that what yours says?

[fightingmom]

Bulldog, let me know if you want me to grab our labs and post exactly what they say, so you can compare.

[PowPow]

not that you asked me, .but my daughters titers were.like 1:512 or something.

any insight?

[bulldog24]

Advanced clinical labs?

 

Babesia duncani

I might run it through labcorp and see. They are supposed to be decent with this test

[bulldog24]

His result was 1:256

The cutoff but states pos

[fightingmom]

Stole this from Igenex website:

 

Babesia IgG/IgM (Babesia Microti or Babesia Duncani) IFA Test

 

Detection of Babesia IgM and IgG Antibodies in Serum by the Indirect Immunofluorescent Antibody Assay (IFA)

 

This immunofluorescent assay (IFA) indirectly detects Babesia-specific IgG or IgM antibodies in patient serum. Red blood cells from Syrian hamsters, infected with Babesia parasites, are fixed on a glass slide. Patient serum is added, and the patient's B. microti-specific IgG or IgM antibodies bind to the parasites in the infected red blood cells. In the third step, a labeled anti-human antibody is added. Fluorescence occurs if Babesia-specific antibodies are present. The slides must be read with a fluorescent microscope.

 

Interpretation

 

Assays for Babesia are usually performed using IFA against cells containing the organism. For the IFA, patient serum is titered using doubling dilutions. These dilutions start at 1:8 or 1:10. Thus, an assay starting at 1:8 would have values at 1:16, 1:32, 1:64, 1:128, 1:256, 1:512, 1:1024, etc., and an assay starting at 10 would have values at 1:20, 1:40, 1:80, 1:160, 1:320, 1:640; 1:1280, etc.

 

Cut-off ranges between a laboratory negative and a laboratory positive sample are comparable for most clinical laboratories. The laboratory positive must be statistically different (mean +/- 2SD) from the negative sample. This does not imply that a titer of 1:40 or 1:80 is clinically significant. In fact, a positive antibody test by itself implies nothing. However, a positive antibody test, with appropriate clinical symptoms (determined by a physician), can lead to a diagnosis.

 

Positive Babesiosis titers are generally 1:160 or higher. Early in disease the titers may rise 4-fold to 1:2560. Later in disease the titer falls. For this reason, the testing of paired samples 4 to 6 weeks apart improves the diagnostic efficiency.

 

Diagnosis based on antibody response requires the seroconversion of infected individuals toward production of anti-Babesia antibodies. Unfortunately, this approach does not always work because:

 

At the height of Babesiosis (within weeks of the initial bite) a patient with fever may fail to have evidence of antibody.

Antibodies often persist long after the symptoms have disappeared.

Polyclonal antibody-based tests lack specificity.

 

Seems like if you show titers at all, it's likely that is an indication at some point you had infection (otherwise it would just come up as negative I believe) because you can't have antibodies without the exposure. The lower they are, the older the infection may be? The higher they are, the more recent or a reactivated infection. I suppose if your immune sytem super sucks, the titers may not show up at all, but if they do, this is what I'm getting out of my reading.

Edited April 17, 2012 by fightingmom

[philamom]

Our daughter's LLMD uses Igenex to test this (in our case).

[fightingmom]

Advanced clinical labs?

 

Babesia duncani

I might run it through labcorp and see. They are supposed to be decent with this test

 

 

I think I'm going to have ours rerun through labcorp, too. What came up for you guys on bartonella and that other one that starts with an "a"?

 

Not buying that "everyone tests positive" thing...we all obviously have different results...

Edited April 17, 2012 by fightingmom

[fightingmom]

This from the CDC site:

 

When interpreting IFA IgG or total Ig results, it is helpful to consider factors that may influence the relative magnitude of Babesia titers (e.g., timing of specimen collection relative to exposure or illness onset, the patient’s immune status, the presence of clinically manifest versus asymptomatic infection). In immunocompetent persons, active or recent Babesia infections that are symptomatic are generally associated with relatively high titers (although antibody levels may be below the detection threshold early in the course of infection); titers can then persist at lower levels for more than a year. In persons who are immunosuppressed or who have asymptomatic Babesia infections, active infections can be associated with lower titers.

 

Laboratory criteria for diagnosis

For the purposes of surveillance:

Laboratory confirmatory:

 

Identification of intraerythrocytic Babesia organisms by light microscopy in a Giemsa, Wright, or Wright-Giemsa–stained blood smear; or

Detection of Babesia microti DNA in a whole blood specimen by polymerase chain reaction (PCR); or

Detection of Babesia spp. genomic sequences in a whole blood specimen by nucleic acid amplification; or

Isolation of Babesia organisms from a whole blood specimen by animal inoculation.

 

Laboratory supportive:

 

Demonstration of a Babesia microti Indirect Fluorescent Antibody (IFA) total immunoglobulin (Ig) or IgG antibody titer of greater than or equal to ( ≥ ) 1:256 (or ≥1:64 in epidemiologically linked blood donors or recipients); or

Demonstration of a Babesia microti Immunoblot IgG positive result; or

Demonstration of a Babesia divergens IFA total Ig or IgG antibody titer of greater than or equal to ( ≥ ) 1:256; or

Demonstration of a Babesia duncani IFA total Ig or IgG antibody titer of greater than or equal to ( ≥ ) 1:512.

http://www.cdc.gov/osels/ph_surveillance/nndss/casedef/babesiosis_current.htm

[PowPow]

lab corp for.us: neg for.bartonella and other coinfections, cdc pos lyme and babesia wa-1 1:512

 

my daughter had been sick (night sweats , pain, fatigue) for about 5 months, psych symptoms for about 6-7months before that test.

she was treated with mepron and abx and herbals

[fightingmom]

lab corp for.us: neg for.bartonella and other coinfections, cdc pos lyme and babesia wa-1 1:512

 

my daughter had been sick (night sweats , pain, fatigue) for about 5 months, psych symptoms for about 6-7months before that test.

she was treated with mepron and abx and herbals

 

I hope she is feeling better now! These poor kids!!

 

Question...I thought I read somewhere about a rash with little red dots, I have had that on my stomach for a long time. Sometimes they are much more obvious, other times they fade. Right now it's VERY bright red and a few more dots are showing up. Am I crazy, or is this somehow related to coinfections? Look like red freckles.