Evaluating polymicrobial immune responses in patients suffering from tick-borne diseases.
Sci Rep
; 8(1): 15932, 2018 10 29.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30374055
ABSTRACT
There is insufficient evidence to support screening of various tick-borne diseases (TBD) related microbes alongside Borrelia in patients suffering from TBD. To evaluate the involvement of multiple microbial immune responses in patients experiencing TBD we utilized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Four hundred and thirty-two human serum samples organized into seven categories followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention two-tier Lyme disease (LD) diagnosis guidelines and Infectious Disease Society of America guidelines for post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. All patient categories were tested for their immunoglobulin M (IgM) and G (IgG) responses against 20 microbes associated with TBD. Our findings recognize that microbial infections in patients suffering from TBDs do not follow the one microbe, one disease Germ Theory as 65% of the TBD patients produce immune responses to various microbes. We have established a causal association between TBD patients and TBD associated co-infections and essential opportunistic microbes following Bradford Hill's criteria. This study indicated an 85% probability that a randomly selected TBD patient will respond to Borrelia and other related TBD microbes rather than to Borrelia alone. A paradigm shift is required in current healthcare policies to diagnose TBD so that patients can get tested and treated even for opportunistic infections.
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Borrelia
/
Tick-Borne Diseases
/
Coinfection
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Guideline
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Year:
2018
Type:
Article