I tested through IGeneX too. My overall dx was negative, but like you, I had some positive bands & indeterminates. Band 41 had 3 pluses in my results but all that means is that I have a lot of something swimming around with a flagella (tail.) The head of IGeneX in Palo Alto told me that an Inuit who spent their entire life on an iceburg would test positive for band 41, everyone has stuff swimming around. I also had a single positive for bands 58 & 66 and an "inderterminate" on bands 39 & 83/93. 66 worries me the most since I only know of two bacteria with heat shock proteins - Lyme & Syphilis (& I know I don't have the latter.) Fwiw, I treated for 8 weeks & never noticed a difference in my symptoms.<br><br>
Did you get the Lyme vax? Band 31 is Lyme indicative - see below:<br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
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<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">Disease surveillance is close observation of a group of patients with the same disease, and it is one of the jobs of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Criteria used for disease surveillance is often different than criteria used to diagnose and treat patients. In my opinion, surveillance criteria should not be used in day-to-day clinical medical practice. Unfortunately, many patients are told they do not have borreliosis because they do not meet CDC’s surveillance criteria. Surveillance criteria exclude some of the classic hallmark antibodies, such as the 31 kDa band (outer surface protein A or ospA) and the 34 kDa band (outer surface protein B or ospB). <b>In fact, the 31 kDa band is so tightly associated with Lyme borreliosis that a vaccine was made from that outer surface protein. In other words, I believe that criteria that exclude the ospA (31 kDa) band should not be used to tell a patient they do not have Lyme borreliosis.</b> Common sense should tell anyone that prevalent antibodies like the 31 dKa and 34 dKa should be included in the criteria, not excluded. <b>(Remember, research supports that if just one antibody that is significantly associated with Borrelia burgdorferi is present on a Western blot, 97 percent of those patients with chronic symptoms or chronic diseases feel better with antibiotics.)</b></td>
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The author of the above is "Dr C of Missouri." (Lyme docs often stay under the radar for fear of their licenses being revoked for not complying with the government.)<br><br>
Here's an explanation of all of the bands:<br><br><div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
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<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">18: An outer surface protein.<br><br>
22: Possibly a variant of outer surface protein C.<br><br>
23-25: Outer surface protein C (osp C).<br><br>
28: An outer surface protein.<br><br>
30: Possibly a variant of outer surface protein A.<br><br>
31: Outer surface protein A (osp A). 34: Outer surface protein B (osp B).<br><br>
37: Unknown, but it is in the medical literature that it is a borrelia-associated antibody. Other labs consider it significant.<br><br>
39: Unknown what this antigen is, but based on research at the National Institute of Health (NIH), other Borrelia (such as Borrelia recurrentis that causes relapsing fever), do not even have the genetics to code for the 39 kDa antigen, much less produce it. It is the most specific antibody for borreliosis of all.<br><br>
41: Flagella or tail. This is how Borrelia burgdorferi moves around, by moving the flagella. Many bacteria have flagella. This is the most common borreliosis antibody.<br><br>
45: Heat shock protein. This helps the bacteria survive fever. The only bacteria in the world that does not have heat shock proteins is Treponema pallidum, the cause of syphilis.<br><br>
58: Heat shock protein.<br><br>
66: Heat shock protein. This is the second most common borrelia antibody.<br><br>
73: Heat shock protein.<br><br>
83: This is the DNA or genetic material of Borrelia burgdorferi. It is the same thing as the 93, based upon the medical literature. But laboratories vary in assigning significance to the 83 versus the 93.<br><br>
93: The DNA or genetic material of Borrelia burgdorferi.<br><br>
In my clinical experience, if a patient has symptoms suspicious for borreliosis, and has one or more of the following bands, there is a very high probability the patient has borreliosis.<br><br>
These bands are 18, 22, 23-25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 41, 83, and 93. This is true regardless of whether it is IgG or IgM.. But again, there is no universal agreement on the significance of these bands. <b>Betina Wilska, M.D</b>. from Germany is one of the world's experts on outer surface protein A (31 kDa).</td>
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