Dr. Cillian De Gascun:

In terms of diagnosis we are sceptical because they are unaccredited tests and the data from those tests have not been published in the literature. We try to provide an evidence-based approach to diagnosis and treatment in Ireland and that is what we are doing. If this laboratory wants to make its findings public, it should publish them in the literature so that they can be reviewed and evaluated. At present, however, they are unaccredited tests which have not been clinically validated. For example, if I want to develop a test for Lyme borreliosis or anything else, I can start off locally in my laboratory and if I think it works in my population, I can share it with colleagues and publish my findings and methods in the literature. They can then be evaluated by other groups, internationally and nationally, to see if they are plausible. If they are reproduced internationally, I would hopefully have patented it by that stage. If they are reproducible internationally and I have a working test, it will be in huge demand and marketed and distributed globally. That is not happening in this case. People are going overseas to use unaccredited tests that have not been clinically validated elsewhere and there is no suggestion in the literature of an evidence base behind them, unfortunately.