Babesia testing

[Michele]

Hi rbf-ers
I have a babesia testing question for my wise friends on this board. When testing babesia should there be both an Igg and Igm result? Igg is significant for past infection right? It was just brought to my attention by my obgyn that my lab tests have only measured the Igg and not the Igm.

So does this mean that the Igg will stay the same throughout treatment and it is the Igm that is more significant to measuring treatment progress? All along my Igg has stayed at 1:4096. But now I wonder why doc isn’t looking at the Igm. Thoughts on this?

Doc is currently blasting my babs with Alinia, Coartem and omnicef. She’s trading out omnicef for ketek in a couple of weeks.
This seems like a very intense treatment. I’m having liver function tests done every two weeks. Has anyone else had so much hefty medicine all at once?

Btw my recovery victory badge for this summer was spending a day at an amusement park riding all the rides with my boys!!! Rollercoasters included!!!! What a long ways I’ve journeyed on this road! More to go, but so much better!!!

Thanks for you help!
Michele

[NancyB]

Michelle,
I’m new to the board, but I’ve had Babesiosis for a while with some relapses. The antibody tests, as I understand it, can be difficult to interpret. I don’t know what the endpoint for therapy would be–but that is a really high IgG titer you’ve got there!

I think the most accurate test is the Babesia FISH test done by Igenex…it has a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 98%–it visualizes the parasites’ RNA directly from a blood smear. Here’s a link to the info, towards the bottom of the page:

http://igenex.com/Website/#

It’s pricey, but can be worth it when deciding on therapy.

Glad that you are feeling better than before!
Nancy

[Michele]

Hi Nancy,

Thank you for your reply. The IGeneX information regarding their FISH testing for Babesia duncani was specific and helpful. I recall my doctor saying there wasn’t a test that showed the live organism. However, this test appears to discern the live organism. This will go on my question list for my next appointment with doc. Not that I desire another out of pocket test. 😐

Michele

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