Classic microscopy reveals borrelia bacteria

[PhilC]

Here’s a very interesting article I found today:
Classic microscopy reveals borrelia bacteria

A short excerpt:
“A simple method has been found that tells people who have become seriously
ill after a tick bite once and for all whether they have bacteria in their blood.”

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[JustDiagnosedChris]

Interesting! Thank you! I still am not totally convinced that I don’t have a long standing infection from ticks. I would love to get to the bottom of this one day soon.

[Maz]

@PhilC wrote:

Here’s a very interesting article I found today:
Classic microscopy reveals borrelia bacteria

A short excerpt:
“A simple method has been found that tells people who have become seriously
ill after a tick bite once and for all whether they have bacteria in their blood.”

Hi Phil,

Research like this is always encouraging. I think my only concern is that borrelia doesn’t remain in the blood for long and this is why indirect antibody testing is used. See following research – think it came out of Canada – it’s fascinating to watch the close-up real time microscopy files, showing the spiral forms literally drilling through the vasculature to escape into tissues.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408724/

Think the “classic” microscopy modality might be useful for early stage Lyme, if there is enough bug in the specimen to image, but this bug is just so darn tricky that I think it might come down to whole person genomic testing or something along those lines. We’re not there yet for large scale, cost-effective testing in this way, but maybe one day?

[Author]

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