A CDC confirmed case requires positive on five bands which is pretty good. These are reported to the CDC. This only confirms infection with Lyme at some point in time (could’ve been years ago). It in no way tells anything about so called “chronic Lyme” or “post treatment Lyme disease” or possible symptoms from an untreated Lyme infection (which is real and can turn into bad news such as heart failure).
A reason for possible increases in reported cases is that Lyme infected ticks are now found in every state, and also it is a more widely known about disease possibly leading to more testing for it and thus more reporting of infections.
One problem is this test isn’t perfect. For example in my case I am five bands positive. I tested myself twice six months apart on Quest with the same five bands positive both times. But being a thorough person I also at the same time tested myself using the IgeneX test, which had no (zero) positive bands the both times. I reported this pretty bad anomaly to the CMS but haven’t heard a response.
It is my impression from most of the research and talking to a pretty awesome neurologist who deals with a lot of “chronic Lyme” cases that make their way to him: that most chronic Lyme is actually an autoimmune reaction. Possibly caused by a prior Lyme infection (possibly not) but if so then the Lyme probably long ago was defeated, as patients with those symptoms tend to improve once put on high dose IVIG.
> The term “chronic Lyme disease” (CLD) has been used to describe people with different illnesses. While the term is sometimes used to describe illness in patients with Lyme disease, in many occasions it has been used to describe symptoms in people who have no evidence of a current or past infection with B. burgdorferi (Marques, 2008). Because of the confusion in how the term CLD is employed, experts in this field do not support its use.
and I also almost fell for "chronic Lyme" few years ago. There's something seriously unsettling around websites/online communities dedicated to chronic Lyme. From Lyme friendly doctors, to people doing and interpreting their own tests, to people ascribing all kind of ailments to this "condition", etc.
A reason for possible increases in reported cases is that Lyme infected ticks are now found in every state, and also it is a more widely known about disease possibly leading to more testing for it and thus more reporting of infections.
One problem is this test isn’t perfect. For example in my case I am five bands positive. I tested myself twice six months apart on Quest with the same five bands positive both times. But being a thorough person I also at the same time tested myself using the IgeneX test, which had no (zero) positive bands the both times. I reported this pretty bad anomaly to the CMS but haven’t heard a response.
It is my impression from most of the research and talking to a pretty awesome neurologist who deals with a lot of “chronic Lyme” cases that make their way to him: that most chronic Lyme is actually an autoimmune reaction. Possibly caused by a prior Lyme infection (possibly not) but if so then the Lyme probably long ago was defeated, as patients with those symptoms tend to improve once put on high dose IVIG.