Always Something New....

There is ALWAYS something new with autism, something I was reminded of last night as we got some test results back we've been waiting a few weeks for.

I remember reading about Lyme disease a few years ago. I've also heard various things over the years about children with autism having higher incidences of Lyme infection. Don't quote me on that though, and I believe there was (and remains) some controversy about this.

There are lots of people who *think* they have Lyme and even the medical community as a whole believes the true incidence of Lyme is much higher than reported to the CDC .

Lyme is tested for with a 2 step process. The first step is an IFA (indirect immunofluorescence assay) and if this is positive, or equivocal (ie, not quite sure), then the western blot is used.

The western blots look at 2 different antibody types, IgG and IgM and particular bands for it to be considered a positive result.

Lyme is difficult to spot in children, especially in the absence of the characteristic bullseye rash. There are several symptoms though that have a lot of crossover with autism and ADHD - including difficulty concentrating and cognitive problems. Lyme disease can also produce headaches and joint pain.

I had seen this last year and thought it would certainly explain some of our son's symptoms, so I had him tested. Our local lab test showed him positive for one of the bands, a band that is specific for flagella (the tail portion of a bacteria). So, we decided to go ahead and have an IGeneX test battery run. IGeneX are a lab that specializes in lyme testing. The test results came back yesterday and even I am surprised at them.

Our son tested postive for Lyme. He didn't have just a few bands either - he meets the strict CDC criteria for it.

He tested positive on the IFA (a value >80).

The IgM Western Blot showed positives for bands 18, 39 and 41 and indeterminate for 31 and 83-93, so he meets the CDC criteria for IgM testing (positives for 2 or more of bands 23-25, 39 and 41).

The IgG Western Blot showed positives for bands 28, 30, 31, 34, 39, 41 and 58, which again meets the CDC criteria for Lyme diagnosis (5 or more of bands 18, 23-25, 28, 30, 39, 41, 45, 58, 66 and 83-93).

Where we go from here, who knows, but we have a follow up appointment next week.

What is certainly interesting though is the thought that so many of our son's lingering issues overlap with the symptoms of Lyme Disease.....