New test detects Lyme disease quickly and accurately
Scientists have finally come up with a test that can quickly detect if you have Lyme disease, the bacterial infection that many thousands have developed from a tick bite.
The LIPS (luciferase immunoprecipation system) test – which has been used for detecting other viral and fungal pathogens – is especially sensitive to Lyme infection. In one test, where it was used with VOVO, a synthetic protein, it detected the disease in virtually 100 per cent of all cases.
Up to now, doctors have relied on a two-step blood test. However, the test has not been very sensitive and has not always picked up an infection that is there. This has allowed the infection to develop, by which time it is more difficult to treat.
(Source: Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2010; 17: 904).