Early Lyme disease with spirochetemia

Full article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1756-0500-3-273.pdf

Excerpt:

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: A sensitive and analytically specific
nucleic acid
amplification test (NAAT) is valuable in confirming the diagnosis
of early Lyme
disease at the stage of spirochetemia. 
FINDINGS: Venous blood drawn from
patients with clinical presentations of Lyme disease was tested
for the standard
2-tier screen and Western Blot serology assay for Lyme disease,
and also by a
nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for B. burgdorferi sensu
lato 16S
ribosomal DNA. The PCR amplicon was sequenced for B. burgdorferi
genomic DNA
validation. A total of 130 patients visiting emergency room (ER)
or Walk-in
clinic (WALKIN), and 333 patients referred through the private
physicians’
offices were studied. While 5.4% of the ER/WALKIN patients showed
DNA evidence
of spirochetemia, none (0%) of the patients referred from private
physicians’
offices were DNA-positive. In contrast, while 8.4% of the
patients referred from
private physicians’ offices were positive for the 2-tier Lyme
serology assay,
only 1.5% of the ER/ WALKIN patients were positive for this
antibody test.