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Infectolab test results (borrelia etc) -what is OspC bg?

anniekim

Senior Member
Messages
779
Location
U.K
If anyone is able to help me interpret my infectolab test results I'd be grateful.

The LTT elispot was negative (so can at least understand that one)

The borrelia burgdorferi antibodies (immunoblot) are:

Borrelia blot igg - negative
Borrelia blot igm - borderline Bands OspC Bg +, 41 +. Now I know the 41 band is common for many people and not Lyme specific so I will ignore that. However, I'm not sure what the OspC Bg is. I thought all test results/bands came back as numbers so the OspC reading flummoxed me a bit. From a quick google search I've seen it mentioned that OspC stands for bands 23-25 so are the OspC letters just another way of indicating the bands between 23-25, rather than listing each one separately?

CD57 positive NK Cells: 57, ref 100-360 (so gather low). The cd57 flow cytometry also listed leuocytes, lymphocytes, all within range.


As I have only shown borderline response to OspC, negative on LTT elispot, although do have low cd57, I am presuming these results suggest Lyme is unlikely? Any thoughts most gratefully received.
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
anniekim

I guess they didn't send you a report with the results. I thought they usually did. I'd call and ask for one.

Sushi
 

anniekim

Senior Member
Messages
779
Location
U.K
Hi Sushi,

They did write this below the western blot results:

'the specific Borelia burgdorferi igm antibodies are an indication for a borderline humooral immune response against borrelia burgdorferi. Please look at the results of the borrelia elispot LTT and cd57 positive NK cells. Take into consideration the clinical symptoms and the differential diagnosis (co-infections).'

I did test bartonella with them a few months back that was negative.

Under my cd57 result they wrote:

'the cd57 cell count is an indication for a chronic immune suppressive situation caused by Borrelia burgdorferi.


I really like to know if anyone can tell me if OspC is a collective term for bands 23 - 25. It just seems to my very uneducated self that one band borderline is not enough for probable lyme...??
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Hi Sushi,

They did write this below the western blot results:

'the specific Borelia burgdorferi igm antibodies are an indication for a borderline humooral immune response against borrelia burgdorferi. Please look at the results of the borrelia elispot LTT and cd57 positive NK cells. Take into consideration the clinical symptoms and the differential diagnosis (co-infections).'

I did test bartonella with them a few months back that was negative.

Under my cd57 result they wrote:

'the cd57 cell count is an indication for a chronic immune suppressive situation caused by Borrelia burgdorferi.


I really like to know if anyone can tell me if OspC is a collective term for bands 23 - 25. It just seems to my very uneducated self that one band borderline is not enough for probable lyme...??

Hmmm. Have you ever tried to find it by PCR?

I just had the Infectolab LLT, and PCR for both Borrelia and Bartonella. Antibodies were inconclusive.

Waiting......

Sushi
 

anniekim

Senior Member
Messages
779
Location
U.K
Hmmm. Have you ever tried to find it by PCR?

I just had the Infectolab LLT, and PCR for both Borrelia and Bartonella. Antibodies were inconclusive.

Waiting......

Sushi

Hi Sushi,

Thanks for your reply. When you say the antibodies were inconclusive, was this the western blot with infectolab? Is inconclusive another way of saying borderline? As was written next to my results?

Thanks for the suggestion of PCR, something to think about. Excuse my ignorance but when you do a PCR test what is the procedure? Do you just sent off blood, or is more involved? Many thanks. Hope you get your results soon
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
Hi Sushi,

Thanks for your reply. When you say the antibodies were inconclusive, was this the western blot with infectolab? Is inconclusive another way of saying borderline? As was written next to my results?

Thanks for the suggestion of PCR, something to think about. Excuse my ignorance but when you do a PCR test what is the procedure? Do you just sent off blood, or is more involved? Many thanks. Hope you get your results soon

No, I had the full Igenex test before--Western blot and several other tests. It was inconclusive.

For this round of testing, I only took the LLT from Infectolabs as I am getting PCR from Redlabs. PCR tries to culture the pathogen from your blood. If it is positive, it IS positive, but it can also miss finding it in an individual sample of blood. And yes, you just send blood, but the shipping time and handling are important. The labs would instruct you on this.

Sushi
 
Messages
75
OspC Bg is the Outer surface protein C or OspC for Borrelia garinii. The "g", "b", and "a" are the genospecies. The European Euroline includes the OspC antigens for all 3 genospecies found in Europe. So the results should also have OspC Bb for burgdorferi and OspC Ba for azfellii.

Sorry for the late response but maybe it will help somebody else...

Its explained here somewhat:

http://www.euroimmun.ch/fileadmin/user_upload_schweiz/DN_2131_I_UK_A02.pdf
http://www.dynex.cz/files/akce-dyne...ction_of_borreliosis_and_related_diseases.pdf


In 1995, the US CDC decided at the "Dearborn Conference", the criteria and basic design for the US Western Blot for Borrellia burgdorferi detection. At the time, it was believed there was only one genospecies of Borrelia in the US that was pathogenic, Borrelia burgdorferi, and that there was limited genotype variation in the US. The Europeans unknowingly took our test which for FDA approval was based on the B31 strain ( which differed from the Dressler study on which the decision was made for IgG) and tried to apply it in Europe.

It failed miserably and the cause was determined to be genotype variation sensitivity. The Europeans had 3 common genospecies and their burgdorferi genotypes were different from the US. The Europeans subsequently redesigned their Blot to include local the genospecies B. garinii, B. azfellii and B. burgdorferi. Even the B. burgdorferi needed to be a local genotype in order its outer surface proteins not differ significantly such that the epitope/paratope bonding didn't fail.

The also decided to include the invariant VlsE protein. So its been 20 years and in the US, four pathogenic genospecies have been found and the genotype variations in B. burgdorferi is now considerably greater across the US than what was believed in 1995. For example, the genotypes and genospecies seen in California differ greatly from the Northeast US probably due to the Rocky Mountain barrier and 2500 miles and evolutionary time it takes for the spirochete to migrate.

So here we sit with our woeful FDA B31 kit which works quite well i you are lucky enough to be infected with a B31 genotype cousin. If not, you are out of luck.





If anyone is able to help me interpret my infectolab test results I'd be grateful.

The LTT elispot was negative (so can at least understand that one)

The borrelia burgdorferi antibodies (immunoblot) are:

Borrelia blot igg - negative
Borrelia blot igm - borderline Bands OspC Bg +, 41 +. Now I know the 41 band is common for many people and not Lyme specific so I will ignore that. However, I'm not sure what the OspC Bg is. I thought all test results/bands came back as numbers so the OspC reading flummoxed me a bit. From a quick google search I've seen it mentioned that OspC stands for bands 23-25 so are the OspC letters just another way of indicating the bands between 23-25, rather than listing each one separately?

CD57 positive NK Cells: 57, ref 100-360 (so gather low). The cd57 flow cytometry also listed leuocytes, lymphocytes, all within range.


As I have only shown borderline response to OspC, negative on LTT elispot, although do have low cd57, I am presuming these results suggest Lyme is unlikely? Any thoughts most gratefully received.