Or...Search This Site Home Symptoms Live Discussion Diagnosis Treatment World-wide Support Finder Library Research Lymelinks Contact Pets & Lyme DONATIONS Drug Info Medical Dictionary Board of Directors      Click on the graphic to vote for this site as a Starting Point Hot Site. -- No Warranties or Representations The data and information presented in this web site are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions including any inaccuracies, errors, or misstatements in such data or information is expressly disclaimed. The web site is compiled for the sole purpose of informing community members of resources and information pertaining to Lyme Borreliosis Disease and its coinfections. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, Directors and members are not liable for any direct or indirect damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from this website. Consult a qualified Lyme ( Borreliosis ) Disease literate doctor for medical advice if Lyme Disease is suspect. en français For Physicians Ticks Coinfections Prevention Our Stories Click Here to order our free Lyme Disease Flyer,    Here for our free Lyme Disease Poster ..documents may be copied (to distribute) but edit only for alignment. Fiction and Fact about the ELISA Chemotherapy. 2006 Feb 22;52(2):53-59 Fiction: The Lyme enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the 'preferred method' to diagnose Lyme disease due to its 'sensitivity, adaptability to automation and ease of '. Fact: The Lyme ELISA consistently misses at least 50% of Lyme disease cases due to the insensitivity of the assay and variability with antibiotic treatment [5, 6, 29,36] . It follows that the 'two-tiered' testing system endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which includes an ELISA screening test followed by a confirmatory Western blot, will also miss 50% of Lyme disease cases because a positive ELISA result is required to proceed to the 'confirmatory' Western blot test [29, 30] . Parenthetically, the CDC criteria were developed for surveillance of Lyme disease, not for diagnostic purposes. This is an important distinction because it is inappropriate to apply surveillance criteria to symptomatic patients whose clinical picture already suggests the presence of Lyme disease. In fact, the clinical case rate for Lyme disease may be as much as 40 times greater than the CDC surveillance case rate [37] . Thus, in contrast to standardized blood testing for human immunodeficiency virus, there is currently no sanctioned, standardized, consistent serologic test for Lyme disease in the United States [5, 6, 29, 30] . TOP