Dr. Bartley Cryan:

I will attempt to answer Deputy Doherty's question first. It depends on what one is seeking. If a particular test seeks antibodies and another test examines stimulated cells, the two tests seek different things which may have come from the same source. There will always be some tests which are slightly divergent. Another spirochetal disease is very similar to Lyme disease and has three phases. We screen for this and do two other tests afterwards. Quite frequently we have divergent results because each test examines different things.
Some of the earlier Lyme disease enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays, ELISAs, were non-specific because in the earlier tests the ELISA sought antibodies to the entire bacterium. They have been defined and refined. We have many spirochetes, which borreliais, in our mouth. They are common organisms and there are many common bits to them for which people can develop antibodies. We need to use an assay which takes out these common bits and focuses on the specific borreliabit. There can also be differences because there are different species in Europe and the United States. This has all been gone into in considerable detail, so the available assays, including the one we use, is up there with the best internationally and the most accepted.