What does the ambassador for Lyme borreliosis diagnostics recommend to fellow physicians?
Based on your experience as a physician, when should we suspect Lyme borreliosis?
Decades of experience have made one thing clear: if there is a possibility of a previous tick bite, which is typical in Hungary, then we should suspect Lyme borreliosis. If the patient has fluctuating symptoms, and these fluctuating symptoms typically cover joint and nervous system symptoms. But even in the case of previously unexperienced mental health problems, if there are no specific organ symptoms to explain the problem, it is worth suspecting Lyme borreliosis. It is often argued that doctors are taking risks with unnecessary antibiotic treatment. We could turn this around: measure twice, cut once – before we preserve the patient’s “health” in an irreversible state, with lifelong surgery or lifelong medication, with a diagnosis that is not objective but only by exclusion, let us consider that Lyme disease is still a more favourable possibility. According to epidemiologists, this disease is ten times more common than people think, so it is primarily a serious problem for Lyme specialists not to “see everything as a nail because they have a hammer in their hands”.
If suspicion arises, what is the ideal diagnostic method?
Ideal diagnostics ensure that anyone, even a biased examiner, can make an objective decision. This is precisely why we developed the DualDur–AIM methodology, to provide physicians with the most reliable automated diagnostic solution available on the appropriate medium.
When are individual diagnostic methods good, and when are they less good?
Many of my highly knowledgeable colleagues have experienced that although they clinically recognised the symptoms of the disease, laboratory tests often failed to confirm this because no antibodies were found in the blood. The methods currently in use have only confirmed the diagnosis of Lyme disease in a third of cases with laboratory results, while in the other cases it was clear from the symptoms that we were dealing with this infection.
Based on your decades of experience in diagnostics, what message would you like to convey to general practitioners and specialists?
It is important that they immediately request a Western blot test with detailed results – not just a positive or negative outcome, but a list of individual antigens – so that they have data to determine possible reinfection and compare the stages of the disease. In the case of a recent infection, this is the first and last opportunity to diagnose reinfection.
Testing ticks for infection and detecting the pathogen’s DNA in ticks can save your patients from unnecessary worry. It is also important not to start treatment without supplementation, i.e. strengthening the body and the immune system, avoiding fungal superinfections, and ensuring an adequate intake of trace elements. Combined antibiotic treatment is always more effective than monotherapy – it is also often used for other diseases, such as syphilis, tuberculosis, Helicobacter infection, etc.
And what should a patient do if they test positive for Lyme borreliosis?
First and foremost, consult a doctor, as this disease cannot be diagnosed with a single test or an online questionnaire. It is an objective finding that Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato infection inhibits the body’s response from the outset, and thus the formation of antibodies that reflect this response. In my experience, the immune complex formed by the antibodies traps the antibodies, and serological tests cannot detect any detectable or detectable amounts of antibodies, even if they are present in the pathogens or in the circulation. Moreover, if they are present for a long time, they can generate further autoimmune processes – so we are no longer talking about a simple infection.
However, the patient can also help the healing process. Physical exercise can remove immune complexes and damage pathogens. In other words, sport, especially outdoors, has healing properties. Daily exercise can prevent joint damage in people with Lyme disease and aid the functioning and development of the nervous system. This is also a significant aid to the body in treating the disease. Almost any activity that raises the body’s temperature or oxygen supply can be beneficial. In addition to outdoor sports, infrared saunas and hot baths can also be effective.
Source: weborvos.hu
