Lyme Disease Support Group
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. It is now one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the U.S. Lyme disease is caused by infection with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, and is primarily transmitted to humans as well as dogs, horses and other domesticated animals by the bite of infected ticks.
I've heard about this test and have just found that a naturopath in my area who will do the test for $250.00 If someone in Idaho will do it, there have got to be tons of people around the country who will also! :) A person can Google this information. All I did was type in QRiBb test. There's lots on Google about it. This is a cut and paste on information off one site." Cheppie
"Lyme disease is the most common vector-born infection in North America. Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi a spiral bacterium related to the syphilis pathogen Lyme disease has been difficult to diagnose due to the lack of an accurate test to detect the presence of B. burgdorferi. If left untreated, Lyme disease can become a chronic, debilitating illness.
B. burgdorferi is well-adapted to life inside the human body and has a particular affinity for the brain and heart. It moves through blood and tissue by means of an internal arrangement of flagellae that propel the spirochete in a corkscrew fashion so it can burrow into cells. It can invade the central nervous system within the first few weeks after infection, and remain latent within the host for long periods of time, only to cause illness months or years later.
B. burgdorferis ability to change shape and form is perhaps its most insidious characteristic. Using mechanisms to change into a cyst-like form, alter the protein structure on its outer cell wall, and lie dormant within the hosts own cells, B. burgdorferi can become virtually invisible to both the bodys immune system and to antibiotics.
Known as the New Great Imitator, Lyme disease masquerades as other diseases, resulting in mistaken diagnoses and extreme physical pathologies. Marked variation is common in the clinical expression of the disease, with wide-reaching symptoms including fever, fatigue, headache, peripheral neuropathy, sleep disturbances, transitory recurrent joint pain, arthritis, Bells palsy, encephalopathy, and progressive peripheral neuropathy. While some patients have very mild symptoms, others will have severe involvement of multiple body systems at the same time.
Most diagnoses are based on clinical findings and not always confirmed by serological testing. Current accepted standards for serology lack sensitivity and specificity, due to timing issues relevant to immune complex production in the patient. Some of the research presented on this website is based on data secured from researching a new test for Lyme disease, the Quantitative Rapid Identification of Borrelia burgdorferi (Q-RiBb).
Q-RiBb Test
What is the Q-RiBb test for Lyme Disease?
The Q-RiBb test is an antigen assay based on the proprietary technology of US Patent 6,838,247, noteworthy both for its sensitivity and quick testing time. In Q-RiBb, the patients whole blood, body tissue or other body fluid is reacted with fluorescein-tagged Bb antibody to bind any Bb antigen that may be in the sample. Upon completion of the serial dilution, each diluted sample is observed under a dark-field fluorescent microscope to identify live fluorescing cellular structures.
The fluorescein-labeled antibody to Bb that is used in this test is highly specific for Borrelia burgdorferi. Cross-reactivity to other Borrelia species has been minimized through extensive affinity adsorption. The cellular structures most often detected by the Q-RiBb test are the cell wall deficient form of Bb.
Validity of Q-RiBb Test
The gold standard for laboratory diagnosis of infectious disease has usually involved culturing the causative organism from the infected host. Although the spirochete causing Lyme disease has proven difficult to culture, Mattman, Phillips, et al have developed a reliable, reproducible method for culturing B. burgdorferi from the blood of patients with Lyme disease. Mattmans medium and methodology are specifically designed for the fostering of cell wall-deficient organisms and their reversion to classic parent forms.
In a separate validity test, 316 whole blood specimens were tested and found to be positive using the Q-RiBb method. These same 316 specimens were cultured in Mattmans MPM medium for four to seven days, and then confirmed with affinity-adsorbed polyclonal fluorescent antibody to B. burgdorferi. All 316 cultures detected B. burgdorferi, providing a 100% validation of the Q-RiBb test.
Where is Q-RiBb Test Conducted?
Currently, the Q-RiBb test is available only for research purposes, through protocol physicians working with the Bowen Research and Training laboratory in Florida. Since Q-RiBb was patented in 2005, Bowen has conducted an extended trial on over 9,000 blood samples. The data from this trial is the basis for many of the articles appearing on this website. It is anticipated that the success of the Q-RiBb trial will ultimately result in the licensing of laboratories to make the Q-RiBb test available to the general public."
"Lyme disease is the most common vector-born infection in North America. Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi a spiral bacterium related to the syphilis pathogen Lyme disease has been difficult to diagnose due to the lack of an accurate test to detect the presence of B. burgdorferi. If left untreated, Lyme disease can become a chronic, debilitating illness.
B. burgdorferi is well-adapted to life inside the human body and has a particular affinity for the brain and heart. It moves through blood and tissue by means of an internal arrangement of flagellae that propel the spirochete in a corkscrew fashion so it can burrow into cells. It can invade the central nervous system within the first few weeks after infection, and remain latent within the host for long periods of time, only to cause illness months or years later.
B. burgdorferis ability to change shape and form is perhaps its most insidious characteristic. Using mechanisms to change into a cyst-like form, alter the protein structure on its outer cell wall, and lie dormant within the hosts own cells, B. burgdorferi can become virtually invisible to both the bodys immune system and to antibiotics.
Known as the New Great Imitator, Lyme disease masquerades as other diseases, resulting in mistaken diagnoses and extreme physical pathologies. Marked variation is common in the clinical expression of the disease, with wide-reaching symptoms including fever, fatigue, headache, peripheral neuropathy, sleep disturbances, transitory recurrent joint pain, arthritis, Bells palsy, encephalopathy, and progressive peripheral neuropathy. While some patients have very mild symptoms, others will have severe involvement of multiple body systems at the same time.
Most diagnoses are based on clinical findings and not always confirmed by serological testing. Current accepted standards for serology lack sensitivity and specificity, due to timing issues relevant to immune complex production in the patient. Some of the research presented on this website is based on data secured from researching a new test for Lyme disease, the Quantitative Rapid Identification of Borrelia burgdorferi (Q-RiBb).
Q-RiBb Test
What is the Q-RiBb test for Lyme Disease?
The Q-RiBb test is an antigen assay based on the proprietary technology of US Patent 6,838,247, noteworthy both for its sensitivity and quick testing time. In Q-RiBb, the patients whole blood, body tissue or other body fluid is reacted with fluorescein-tagged Bb antibody to bind any Bb antigen that may be in the sample. Upon completion of the serial dilution, each diluted sample is observed under a dark-field fluorescent microscope to identify live fluorescing cellular structures.
The fluorescein-labeled antibody to Bb that is used in this test is highly specific for Borrelia burgdorferi. Cross-reactivity to other Borrelia species has been minimized through extensive affinity adsorption. The cellular structures most often detected by the Q-RiBb test are the cell wall deficient form of Bb.
Validity of Q-RiBb Test
The gold standard for laboratory diagnosis of infectious disease has usually involved culturing the causative organism from the infected host. Although the spirochete causing Lyme disease has proven difficult to culture, Mattman, Phillips, et al have developed a reliable, reproducible method for culturing B. burgdorferi from the blood of patients with Lyme disease. Mattmans medium and methodology are specifically designed for the fostering of cell wall-deficient organisms and their reversion to classic parent forms.
In a separate validity test, 316 whole blood specimens were tested and found to be positive using the Q-RiBb method. These same 316 specimens were cultured in Mattmans MPM medium for four to seven days, and then confirmed with affinity-adsorbed polyclonal fluorescent antibody to B. burgdorferi. All 316 cultures detected B. burgdorferi, providing a 100% validation of the Q-RiBb test.
Where is Q-RiBb Test Conducted?
Currently, the Q-RiBb test is available only for research purposes, through protocol physicians working with the Bowen Research and Training laboratory in Florida. Since Q-RiBb was patented in 2005, Bowen has conducted an extended trial on over 9,000 blood samples. The data from this trial is the basis for many of the articles appearing on this website. It is anticipated that the success of the Q-RiBb trial will ultimately result in the licensing of laboratories to make the Q-RiBb test available to the general public."
I think I'd hold on to my $250 for a bit, unless Bowen Research has a contract with your naturopath.
But this test sounds very promising. I would like to see more stats about confirmation of tests that came back negative.