The so-called cellular tests to determine whether someone has Lyme disease are not reliable, the RIVM, Amsterdam UMC and Radboudumc concluded in a joint study. The new tests are being used by several commercial labs.
Wrong treatments due to these test results
“Too many people wrongly get a negative or positive result with these new tests,” says Ewoud Baarsma, researcher at Amsterdam UMC. In practice, this would mean that many people receive the wrong treatment based on these test results. The cellular tests studied measure the activity of certain immune cells in the blood against the Lyme bacteria.
The study involved three different groups, patients with Lyme disease, healthy people and a group of people with diseases known to interfere with testing for Lyme disease. The results have been published in the scientific journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Standard blood tests measure antibodies
The standard blood test that doctors use for Lyme disease measures so-called antibodies against the Lyme bacteria. However, with this test it is not always known whether the infection is current or whether the antibodies are still present from a previous infection, which may have already been cured.
Source: ANP