title: Laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease: advances and challenges.
abstract: The majority of laboratory tests performed for the diagnosis of Lyme disease are based on detection of the antibody responses against B burgdorferi in serum. The sensitivity of antibody-based tests increases with the duration of the infection. Patients early in their illness are more likely to have a negative result. There is a need to simplify the testing algorithm for Lyme disease, improving sensitivity in early disease while still maintaining high specificity and providing information about the stage of infection. The development of a point of care assay and biomarkers for active infection would be major advances for the field.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 10/12C118 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: amarques@niaid.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Adriana R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Marques
mesh_terms: D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000592:standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012698:Serologic Tests
keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Laboratory diagnosis; Lyme disease; Serology