Advance Lab Blood Culture

[ptcgirl]

My daughter is off of abx for the month in order to find out if she has Lyme again this time using the newer blood culture testing. My question is, how many of you have used this test? What were the results? Someone locally (we travel out of state for treatment)mentioned to me that it doesn't cover all of the strains of Lyme and since we live in the Southeast it won't be able to find the types that are here. Anyone know anything about this?

[philamom]

You could call them and ask questions. They took my calls.

 

My daughter's results say:

Patient blood culture displays positive growth of spirochetal organisms in the blood which stained positive via immunohistochemical method using polyclonal antibody for Borrelai burgdorferi.

 

Then we received a picture of the Spirochete/Borrelia Culture. It had three spirochetes in it.

[lfran]

I'd love to hear what they say if you call them.

 

I am considering it, 'cause DS11 has been off abx since spring. His main band was p58, which I think is mostly associated with b. afzelli, which is not very common in US but more common in Europe, but they test for that, b. burgdorferi, and b. gazanii, I think.

 

I called them a few days ago asked their lab tech which of their many options I should use to get the most for my money and he said the basic test (at 595, I think) is all I should need for a positive culture, rather than the more expensive options. But I'd love to hear what they tell you if you call.

 

BTW, their "phone person" knew very little and *she* suggested I talk to the lab techs directly.

 

 

 

You could call them and ask questions. They took my calls.

 

My daughter's results say:

Patient blood culture displays positive growth of spirochetal organisms in the blood which stained positive via immunohistochemical method using polyclonal antibody for Borrelai burgdorferi.

 

Then we received a picture of the Spirochete/Borrelia Culture. It had three spirochetes in it.

[tpotter]

We did it with DS19, who for the most part, is doing pretty well. He's away at college, and I really wanted to know. It came back negative, and so far, seems to be accurate.

 

It has a, reportedly, 80% accuracy, which is quite a bit better than the Quest WB, but that's still 20% inaccurate.

 

In our case, I think it was worth doing. If he has an increase in symptoms, though, we might repeat it.

 

But, what I want to know about is the PCR DNA test (is that what it's called?) It's supposed to be 90 somthing% accurate.