Healthcare evaluation research shows that cellular testing for Lyme disease can lead to unnecessary testing and treatment. Researchers from Amsterdam UMC, Radboudumc and RIVM have determined that these tests are unreliable and advise against their use. In an interview with the Federation, researchers and residents Ewoud Baarsma and Freek van de Schoor tell to what extent their VICTORY study contributes to the right care in the right place.
Lyme disease affects approximately 27,000 people per year in the Netherlands. Cellular tests are increasingly being used to determine whether someone has Lyme disease. According to Baarsma, a resident of internal medicine at Amsterdam UMC, this is not a good idea because the research shows that the accuracy is very disappointing. ‘A number of cellular tests regularly incorrectly indicated that they did not have Lyme disease, when they did. But especially the reverse occurred, the test was positive, but the test subjects were not infected. The latter was much more common in the examined cellular tests than in the current antibody tests. We think this is an important finding, because far more people are being tested who don’t have Lyme disease than do. A false-positive test result therefore has much more impact in absolute numbers.’
With the research, Baarsma and Van de Schoor not only want to help doctors, but also offer doctors tools to treat patients with Lyme disease. ‘And that can vary from a dermatologist to a cardiologist,’ says Van de Schoor, PhD student in rheumatology at Radboudumc. In addition, both residents hope that the corona pandemic will boost this research. ‘There seem to be similarities in complaints after diseases such as Lyme, Q fever and corona. But to establish that with certainty, more research is needed first.’
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