Igenex Lyme Disease Test
People who wish to buy a test kit from IGeneX have to pay a $20 deposit fee. They need to complete the paperwork with their doctor to determine which tests they should use.
Afterward, an individual can collect their sample at home and mail it to IGeneX. The company then sends the results to the doctor.
The tests cost $295546.
People who use IGeneX may benefit from some of its advantages:
- The testing centers are CLIA-certified.
- Doctors help the clients choose a test kit.
- There are several collection methods available.
However, there are some disadvantages to this service. Firstly, it is not a true home test, as people have to work with a doctor to complete the paperwork and receive their results. Additionally, the paperwork and billing system can be complex.
CDC , people should perform two tests for Lyme disease, and they can use the same blood sample.
If they receive a negative result, they do not need to perform another test. However, if their first test is positive or indeterminate, it is best to test again.
The CDC states the overall result is only positive for Lyme disease when the first and second tests produce a positive result.
Tests detect IgM and IgG antibodies that the body produces in response to an infection. The IgM antibodies appear early in response to the exposure, while the IgG antibodies appear 46 weeks after the infection and can persist for years.
False positives can occur if a person has other conditions, including
What To Think About
- It may be hard to tell if you have Lyme disease. False-positive and false-negative Lyme disease test results are common. Many people do not make antibodies to Lyme disease bacteria for up to 8 weeks after being infected.
- Doctors often do not rely on test results alone when recommending treatment for a person who may have Lyme disease. Treatment is often based on a personâs symptoms, the time of year, having a tick bite, and other risk factors for Lyme disease.
Full Screen Is Not Supported On This Browser Version
You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.
How to Prepare for the Test
You do not need special steps to prepare for this test.
How the Test will Feel
When the needle is inserted to draw blood, some people feel moderate pain. Others feel only a prick or stinging. Afterward, there may be some throbbing or a slight bruise. This soon goes away.
Why the Test is Performed
The test is done to help confirm the diagnosis of Lyme disease.
Normal Results
A negative test result is normal. This means none or few to Lyme disease were seen in your blood sample. If the ELISA test is negative, usually no other testing is needed.
Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Some labs use different measurements or test different samples. Talk to your health care provider about the meaning of your specific test results.
Read Also: Is There A Human Vaccine For Lyme Disease
Don’t Miss: Functional Medicine And Lyme Disease
Learn More About Lyme Disease Diagnosis Testing
Tests can not only help to diagnose a disease, but also to manage an illness. A good test can help a doctor assess the severity of disease, estimate the patients prognosis, monitor the course of disease progression, stability or resolution, detect relapse, and select drugs or adjust therapy. Unfortunately, a test with this capability does not exist for Lyme disease. To learn more about specific tests, visit: Lyme Disease Tests.
LymeDisease.org has developed a Lyme disease symptom checklist to help you document your exposure to Lyme disease and common symptoms for your healthcare provider. You will receive a report that you can print out and take with you to your next doctors appointment that may be helpful in your Lyme disease diagnosis.
You May Like: How To Pay For Lyme Treatment
What To Know About Seeing A Doctor And Getting Tested
Whatever kind of doctor you see, they will consider your medical history, your symptoms, and your Lyme disease test results when making a diagnosis. They should perform what is known as a differential diagnosis in order to rule out common misdiagnoses, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ALS, MS, etc.
Many doctors rely on the two-tier system recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which consists of the following two blood tests:
- Western blot test
However, research shows that these tests are severely limited in accuracy and sensitivity. A LLMD may be able to help you get tested with newer and more accurate testing technology.
Lyme disease recovery starts with finding a doctor who has sufficient experience with Lyme as well as access to the right diagnostic testing. To learn more about what tests are available for Lyme disease today, including IGeneXs ImmunoBlot test, check out the blog The Best Test for Lyme Disease.
You May Like: What Is The Best Antibiotic To Treat Lyme Disease
You May Like: First Signs Of Lyme Disease In Dogs
How Is The Test Performed
The ELISA test is simple and straightforward. Youll probably need to sign a consent form, and your doctor should explain the reason for doing the test.
The ELISA test involves taking a sample of your blood. First, a healthcare provider will cleanse your arm with an antiseptic. Then, a tourniquet, or band, will be applied around your arm to create pressure and cause your veins to swell with blood. Next, a needle will be placed in one of your veins to draw a small sample of blood. When enough blood has been collected, the needle will be removed and a small bandage will be placed on your arm where the needle was. Youll be asked to maintain pressure at the site where the needle was inserted for a few minutes to reduce blood flow.
This procedure should be relatively painless, but your arm may throb a little after its done.
The blood sample will be sent to a laboratory for analysis. In the lab, a technician will add the sample to a petri dish containing the specific antigen related to the condition for which you are being tested. If your blood contains antibodies to the antigen, the two will bind together. The technician will check this by adding an enzyme to the petri dish and observing how your blood and the antigen react.
You may have the condition if the contents of the dish change color. How much change the enzyme causes allows the technician to determine the presence and amount of antibody.
Lyme Disease In Women
If you live or spend time in an area where ticks are prevalent, then you probably have tick-borne illnesses on your mind from time to timethe most commonly known tick-borne infection being Lyme disease.
Like many other diseases, Lyme disease symptoms in women can vary from those in men. In addition, the long-term complications that come with chronic Lyme disease and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome can also differ in women.
If youre a woman who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease or is concerned about being infected with it, its essential to know what symptoms to look out for, and what the potential long-term effects of tick-borne infections are.
Don’t Miss: How To Treat Post Lyme Disease Syndrome
Is There A Blood Test For Lyme Disease
If your doctor suspects that you have Lyme disease, they may order two blood tests. These will look for signs that your body is trying to fight it off. The results are most precise a few weeks after youâve been infected.
These tests are:
ELISA test. This test canât check for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. It can only look for your immune systemâs response to it.
Once Borrelia burgdorferi gets into your blood, your body begins to make special proteins called antibodies to fight it off. The ELISA test checks for those antibodies.
Although itâs the most common way to check for Lyme disease, the ELISA test isnât perfect. It can sometimes give false âpositiveâ results. On the other hand, if you have it done too soon after youâve been infected, your body may not have developed enough antibodies for the test to detect them. This will give you a ânegativeâ result even though you do have Lyme disease.
Western blot test. Whether your ELISA test comes back positive or negative, your doctor will need to do this blood test, too.
A Western blot uses electricity to split certain proteins in your blood into patterns. This is then compared to the pattern of people known to have Lyme disease.
At least five band matches means that you have Lyme disease. Still, not all labs have the same standards. Thereâs a chance that you could get a âpositiveâ result from one and a ânegativeâ result from another.
- Alzheimerâs disease
Lyme Disease Test Two
Two-tiered Lyme disease testing uses two tests. The first is a screening test that should detect anyone who might have the disease. Tests that do this well have are regarded as having high sensitivity. This test is followed by a second test that is intended to make sure that only people with the disease are diagnosed. Tests that do this well have high specificity.
HIV/AIDS is diagnosed with tests that are both highly sensitive and highly specific. They are accurate more than 99% of the time. In Lyme disease, the second test is highly specific. So there are few false positives. Unfortunately, the screening test is highly insensitive and fails to accurately identify patients who have Lyme disease. The two-tiered test system misses roughly 54% of patients.
Because of this, LDo recommends the patients and physicians skip the ELISA and go straight to the Western blot.
Don’t Miss: Why Is Lyme Disease Called Lyme
Lyme Disease Symptoms In Women
Diagnosing Lyme disease can be complex because its symptoms can mimic many other illnesses, including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and certain autoimmune disorders. Some of the most common symptoms of Lyme disease include:
- Chills and fever
These symptoms are common in both men and women, but what about symptoms that are specific to women? It turns out Lyme disease may dramatically affect women more than men.
When it comes to Lyme disease symptoms, women may experience:
- More atypical Lyme rashes
- Higher inflammatory and immune responses
- Higher prevalence of common symptoms like muscle and joint pain, nausea and vomiting, anxiety, numbness and tingling, and changes in vision
Pcr Antigen Detection And Culture Testing
Other types of tests for Lyme disease include PCR , antigen detection, and culture testing. These tests look for the bacteria as opposed to the antigens created by your body in response to the bacteria.
A PCR test uses a portion of DNA from the borrelia bacteria to help with detection. 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.
The final option is culture testing, which is highly regarded as the gold standard for diagnosis. Blood is taken from a person suspected of having Lyme disease, and the lab attempts to grow Lyme bacteria using the blood culture. 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.
Recommended Reading: At Home Treatment For Lyme Disease
References Choosing A Test
Danish Elisa Test Is Unreliable What To Do
Lyme disease is a very complex disease. We can start by looking at the tests. The Elisa test used in Denmark is unreliable in detecting chronic Lyme disease. I tested negative in Denmark but positive abroad. The more one researches Lyme disease, the scarier it becomes. Many people suffer from Lyme disease without knowing it, and many only find out that their symptoms are due to Lyme disease several years after the symptoms started. Im one of them.
Many also do not realize they have ever been stung. There are many disagreements about the disease, and I think the best I can do now is to stand in the middle and listen and make my own conclusions on various topics along the way. I can at least state that there is a problem with the Elisa test used in Denmark. During my research, it became clear that it is a highly unreliable test to detect chronic Lyme disease, with a reliability rate apparently only around 30%. I have been a victim of the unreliable Elisa test myself. I have tested positive for co-infections at a laboratory in Germany and one in Poland, but negative in Denmark.
TestsArminLabs, German lab: Positive on Borrelia, Babesia, Bartonella, Mycoplasma and Yersinia.
Recommended Reading: Vacation Rentals Hawks Nest Beach Old Lyme Ct
Testing For Lyme Disease: Follow The Steps
Barbara J.B. Johnson, PhD
Hello, I am Dr. Barbara Johnson. I am a microbiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and I am pleased to speak with you today as part of the on Medscape about serologic testing for Lyme disease. Serology is currently the only type of diagnostic test for Lyme disease approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Serologic tests are designed to detect antibodies that the immune system makes in response to an infectious organism, in this case the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Before testing a patient for Lyme disease, it is important to consider the likelihood that a patient is infected. Factors to consider are:
-
Symptoms: Does the patient have signs and symptoms consistent with the disease?
-
Geography: Has the patient been in an area where the disease occurs?
-
Behaviors: Does the patient have risk factors for exposure to ticks?
When testing for antibodies for Lyme disease, CDC recommends a 2-step testing process. In the first step, serum is tested using a highly sensitive but inadequately specific quantitative assay, most commonly an enzyme immunoassay, such as an ELISA. If this first test is negative, no further testing is indicated. If the first test is positive or indeterminate , a second-step test should be performed.
Two important caveats:
For more information about Lyme disease, the geographic areas of risk, and appropriate laboratory testing procedures, please consult the CDC Website list below. Thank you.
What Abnormal Results Mean
A positive ELISA result is abnormal. This means antibodies were seen in your blood sample. But, this does not confirm a diagnosis of Lyme disease. A positive ELISA result must be followed up with a Western blot test. Only a positive Western blot test can confirm the diagnosis of Lyme disease.
For many people, the ELISA test remains positive, even after they have been treated for Lyme disease and no longer have symptoms.
A positive ELISA test may also occur with certain diseases not related to Lyme disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Don’t Miss: How To Test For Chronic Lyme Disease
What Is A 4dx Heartworm Test For Dogs
A 4DX Heartworm Test is an essential tool used to detect heartworms in dogs. This test is one of the most important tests available to veterinarians as it allows them to accurately detect any possible infections or diseases pertaining to your pup’s heart health.
Heartworms are a type of parasites that can cause serious damage if not detected and treated promptly. They are transmitted through mosquito bites and typically travel into a dogs bloodstream, eventually making their way into the arteries of the lungs, heart, and other organs. Once inside these organs, heartworms can cause life-threatening complications such as respiratory distress and congestive heart failure.
A 4DX Heartworm Test works by detecting antibodies produced by a dog’s body in response to exposure of anything containing Dirofilaria immitis antigens . These antibodies are specific for different strains of Dirofilaria immitis which allows this systematic screening method to pinpoint exactly which strain is present in your pets system – a positive result indicating current or prior infection. This test helps provide a more definitive diagnosis that could indicate whether or not further treatment is necessary if so, then antibiotics would be prescribed accordingly based on findings from blood testing results like this one!
Learn More: How to train your dog to ignore other dogs?
Is There A Lyme Disease Test Kit
Blood collection kits are available for at-home Lyme disease testing. Lyme disease test kits can cost as less as $20 and as much as $100 or more. Using a Lyme disease test kit is as simple as pricking your finger and smearing or collecting the blood onto the kit for testing.
However, testing for Lyme disease in a more controlled environment such as a lab or clinic is preferable as qualified healthcare professionals are likely to perform a more reliable test.
Waddell L. A., et al. . The accuracy of diagnostic tests for Lyme disease in humans, a systematic review and meta-analysis of North American research. PLoS One. 2016 11: e0168613. Retrieved from
Also Check: Center For Disease Control Lyme Disease
Management Of Individuals Without Symptoms Following A Tick Bite
Diagnostic testing is not recommended for individuals who do not develop any symptoms suggestive of Lyme disease after a tick bite.
Some commercial companies offer services to test removed ticks for the presence of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. UKHSA does not provide such tick-testing services. The results of such tests should not be used to inform diagnosis or treatment. A positive result does not mean that the infected tick will have passed on the bacteria there are many factors that determine whether Lyme disease results from the bite of an infected tick. A negative result may not be technically valid and could give false assurance, as it does not exclude the possibility that another tick elsewhere on the body has been missed by the patient.
UKHSA runs a tick surveillance scheme and is happy to receive ticks for species identification and to monitor tick distribution.