Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:19:23 -0500
From: Marcia Herman
Subject: Human tests for tick-borne infections
It is worth noting that for some reason, tests (such as the tick panel mentioned by a reader) for animals are better than tests for humans with tick-borne infections.
n humans, tests for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever may cross react with certain other infections. Tests for Lyme disease while less likely to be positive due to another infection have a little to a lot less than a 100% chance of being positive in the presence of Lyme disease depending on a lot of factors. These serology based tick disease tests may remain postive (when they do show up positive) for years after an infection. Thus, even a positive does not always mean a person is currently sick with whatever infection was tested for. Unfortunately, the whole testing issue is very complex in humans.
Marcia E. Herman-Giddens, PA, DrPH
President, Tick-borne Infections Council of North Carolina, Inc