Other Types of Laboratory Testing
Some laboratories offer Lyme disease testing using assays whose accuracy and clinical usefulness have not been adequately established. Unvalidated tests available as of 2011 include:
- Capture assays for antigens in urine
- Culture, immunofluorescence staining, or cell sorting of cell wall-deficient or cystic forms of B. burgdorferi
- Lymphocyte transformation tests
- Quantitative CD57 lymphocyte assays
- “Reverse Western blots”
- In-house criteria for interpretation of immunoblots
- Measurements of antibodies in joint fluid (synovial fluid)
- IgM or IgG tests without a previous ELISA/EIA/IFA
References
- Notice to readers: caution regarding testing for Lyme disease. MMWR, CDC Surveillance Summary, 2005, 54:125.
- Marques A, Brown MR, Fleisher TA: Natural killer cell counts are not different between patients with post-Lyme disease syndrome and controls. Clin Vaccine Immunol 2009, 16:1249–1250.
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Bacterial Diseases Branch
Foothills Campus
Fort Collins, CO 80521 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348 - New Hours of Operation
8am-8pm ET/Monday-Friday
Closed Holidays - cdcinfo@cdc.gov
