Posted by bleauberry on July 20, 2009, at 18:08:46
In reply to From Columbia Newsletter on Lymes Disease., posted by Phillipa on July 19, 2009, at 21:26:08
This report is chock full of things like
"we expect"
"may"
"should"Anyone can hypothesize and theorize, as this newsletter does. I can come up with my own as good or better than the ones in this newsletter.
In truth, Lyme is so complicating and mysterious that it is even a considerable challenge for a specialized Lyme expert physiciasn to get a grasp on it from one patient to the next. It takes a keen eye and years of experience.
The ELISA test is practically useless, as is the spinal tap. Among clinicians well schooled in Lyme, the only test with any meaning at all is the Western Blot. Even it has many flaws. Lyme is a clinical diagnosis, not a lab diagnosis.
If someone has Lyme but no symptoms, cool. It happens. One of the mysteries of Lyme. The serious and much more frequent problem is quite the opposite. That is, people with symptoms who don't know they have Lyme and only took the ELISA test from a physician with only average basic training in Lyme. That spells misery for that patient's future. The Centers For Disease Control estimates that there are 9 such people right now for every one that has already been diagnosed.
poster:bleauberry
thread:907570
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090709/msgs/907652.html